By Harry Awurumibe who was in Morocco
When the history of Nigeria’s Super Falcons CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 10th title win in far away Rabat, Morocco, will be written, few individuals who worked behind-the-scene to make sure the ‘Mission X’ propounded by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) ahead of the biggest women’s football competition in Africa was accomplished will get a pride of place in the book.
Nigeria’s senior women’s football team came back from a position of defeat after going down 2 -0 in the first half to bounce back and beat their hard-fighting Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses 3-2 in the epic final of the 13th WAFCON at Olympic Stadium Rabat on Saturday night.
By this hard-earned victory over the host country in a packed-stadium with a partisan crowd, Nigeria has achieved a record-extending feat of winning the WAFCON title for the 10th time while only two other countries have won the WAFCON trophy twice in the case of Equatorial Guinea in 2008 and 2012 and once by South Africa in 2022 respectively.
There is no gainsaying the fact that Super Falcons of Nigeria have dominated Africa since the advent of women’s football in Africa dating back to 1991 when CAF first organised the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) African qualifiers on home and away basis to ensure that Africa joined the rest of the world to play in the first Women’s World Cup final in China.
Nigeria defeated other African opponents on the way to qualify for the maiden FIFAWWC in China in 1991 and also qualified for the second edition in Sweden in 1995.
However, after two editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, CAF in 1998 introduced the biennial women’s football tournament tagged Africa Women Championship (AWC) currently called WAFCON which Nigeria hosted and went on to win the gold-plated trophy donated by Mrs Maryam Sani Abacha, wife of the former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.
Now, in the 27 years history of the biggest women’s football tournament in Africa, Nigeria has won the WAFCON trophy 10 times in 13 editions with the victory in Morocco the most significant because it was almost slipping out of the hands of the West African country on that Saturday night of July 26, 2025.
Never have Nigerians been doubtful of winning the 10th title as the odds were against the Super Falcons following the team’s dismal performance in the 12th edition also held in Morocco in 2022.
Also, the Super Falcons’ shambolic outing in Paris 2024 Olympic Games where the team lost all three group matches under former head coach Randy Waldrum, made Nigerians doubt the ability of the team and Nigeria-born coaches led by Justin Madugu to win the 10th title in Morocco.
It was under this atmosphere that the NFF, aware of the public perception of the Super Falcons and the coaching crew came up with the battle-cry of ‘Mission X’ to remind the team of the expectations of the football house and by extension the feelings of Nigerians at home and diaspora.
However, statistics showed that Nigeria has never played the WAFCON final and ended up the second best as the Super Falcons have only placed third once in 2008 and 4th place twice in 2012 and 2022 respectively.
Also, Nigeria has never failed to reach the semi-final of WAFCON nor failed to win the cup after reaching the final of the biennial women’s football competition.
Despite the above rich pedigree of the team, many believed that the ‘Mission X’ will turn out to be a “Mission Impossible” because of the team’s 2022 WAFCON below par performance and the rising profile of 11 other WAFCON 2024 qualified countries like the host Morocco, the defending champions South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Senegal among others.
With few international friendly matches including a double-header against Algeria in Nigeria, which won easily and one high-profile clash with Les Bleues of France in Angers, which Nigeria lost 2-1 in November 2024, coach Madugu was not looking to be the man to take Nigeria to podium finish by the estimations of his naysayers.
As the competition drew nearer in early 2025, the Super Falcons remained inactive, missing the FIFA women’s football international friendlies windows in February/March and April but returned to camp after five months hiatus towards the end of May for the planned double-header international friendlies with Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses and which later became a one-off match played at MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, Ogun state on June 3, 2025.
Gusau’s NFF also arranged two more international friendlies for Super Falcons against Portugal in Lisbon and Ghana in Mohammédia in Morocco which prepared Nigeria adequately for the WAFCON win last Saturday night.
However, the singular act of patriotism of a women’s football advocate since 1991 and veteran Journalist Mr. Harry Chidozie Awurumibe, relying heavenly on his 34 years experience in the promotion and coverage of women’s football in Nigeria, Africa and globally, ensured that he reached out to the NFF leadership with a template on how Nigeria can win the 10th WAFCON title in Morocco despite the skeptical stands of many people.
Luckily, a listening NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau in conjunction with the General Secretary Dr. Mohammed Sani adopted the template submitted by Mr. Awurumibe and directed the federation’s Technical and Development Department to study the template with professional eyes and recommend it to the decision-makers to implement.
Part of Mr. Awurumibe’s recommendations was the hiring of expatriate specialist coaches to assist Super Falcons interim head coach (Madugu) instead of bringing in a new boss. The recommendation of a Video Analyst and Fitness/ Conditioning Trainer was accepted and it saw the hiring of Sweden-born Igor Krulj and Per Karlsson who are working for top Division clubside in Sweden to join the Nigerian coaching crew.
The combination of the Nigerian coaches and the two European gaffers have now yielded the desired result as they have led Nigeria to reclaim the WAFCON title which the country lost in 2022 under the former coach Randy Waldrum.
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Other individuals who played crucial roles in the Super Falcons’ big win in Morocco that is being celebrated today in Nigeria, across Africa and beyond at moment are NFF Technical Director, Augustine Eguavoen, his assistant Abdulrafiu Yusuf, who put their pedigree as certified coaches and ex-national team players on the line by believing in Mr. Awurumibe whose passion for women’s football development has no rival in Nigeria.
Their recommendations to the NFF leadership to go ahead with the suggestions by the development journalist (Awurumibe) saved the day just as the contribution of the NFF Technical and Development Sub-Committee led by Alhaji Inua Sheriff (Ahlan) who was the team’s leader of delegation to Morocco can not be ignored.
Also, mention must be made of the NFF Director of Competitions, Ms.Ruth David and Head of International Competitions, Enebi Achor, who worked behind-the-scene in their official capacities to ensure that the administrative part of the preparations of the Super Falcons for WAFCON 2024 went according to plans.
Finally, as Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on behalf of a grateful country celebrate the victory of Super Falcons in the just concluded 13th WAFCON in Morocco, these unsung heroes and heroines who worked behind-the-scene tirelessly for the NFF and the Super Falcons in one capacity or another to succeed in Morocco should not be forgotten for their immense contributions for this victory the nation is celebrating.
They also deserve the national recognition and other largesse extended to the players, coaching crew, backroom staff and administrative officials because “what is good for the goose is good for the gander”. After all, a line in our old national anthem says: “The labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain…”, For the Good of Women’s Football.
