By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Less than one month after she attended the Elite Women Instructors Course organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Morocco, the assistant coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s football team, Super Falcons, Ann Agumanu-Chiejine, has again been invited to participate in the first-ever CAF Goalkeeper Elite Instructors Course in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prompt News reports that the CAF Goalkeeper Elite Instructors Course in Johannesburg which will run from Saturday, December 2 to Saturday, December 9, 2023, is a new programme introduced by the continental football governing body as part of its deliberate efforts to develop women’s football in particular and football in general.
According to CAF Development Director, Raul Chipenda, “CAF’s objective with this course, is to create a panel of experts specialized in Goalkeeping, who can train and develop new Goalkeeping Instructors in the different Member Associations”.
For this reason CAF Coaching Department in Cairo, Egypt in its wisdom picked Chiejine, an African legendary goalkeeper who was in goal for Nigeria in three FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in 1991 in China, 1995 in Sweden and 1999 in the United States of America (USA) where Nigeria reached the quarter final stage, thanks to Chiejine’s extraordinary goalkeeping prowess.
She also kept for Nigeria in Sydney 2000 Olympic Games in Australia as well as two Africa Women Championship (AWC) now WAFCON in 1998, 2000 and 2002 in Nigeria and South Africa before retiring from active football to via into coaching.
The Super Falcons assistant coach will therefore not be on the bench when Nigeria takes on Cape Verde today at Moshood Abiola National Stadium Abuja in the first leg of the final round of 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) double-header.
Recall that before Nigeria eliminated Ethiopia last October in the 2024 Paris Olympics women’s football African qualifiers double-header in Addis Ababa and Abuja, Chiejine also obtained her badge as a CAF Elite Women Instructor.
Chiejine who also holds CAF Grade A License, UEFA and U.S Coaching Certificates, received the badge in far away Rabat, Morocco after attending a one-week CAF Elite Women Instructors Course organised by the continental football ruling body in the North African country. READ ALSO:
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Interestingly, Chiejine was the only female football coach from Nigeria who attended the Course just as no fewer than three coaches from South Africa and two from Cameroon also got their CAF Elite Women Instructor Course badge.
Host country- Morrocco, Algeria,Tunisia, Tanzania, Burundi and Senegal as well as Nigeria’s neighbour-Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Ethiopia produced one candidate each.
The CAF Elite Women Instructors Course was conducted by two CAF Women Instructors namely Clementinè Tourè from Cotè d’ Ivorire and Jacky Chipanga of Namibia while Ethiopian Abraham Mebratu was the third Instructor in the Course.
