“Our goal is to be competitive in the NWFL Premiership, to stay in a good position on the table and qualify for the Super 6, winning honours has to be the dream of every player in the squad, and we have to work for all these.”
Edo Queens General Coordinator, Mrs Sabina Chikere has urged the ‘Obaseki Ladies’ to come out strong on Wednesday when they face Adamawa Queens in Gombe.
The top football administrator believes Adamawa Queens will be strong at home, but has continued to remind her team that getting the maximum point is possible.
Edo Queens left Benin City Airport on Saturday, to Abuja, where they are expected to connect to Gombe on Monday evening to play their NWFL Premiership week one game against the ‘Fintiri’ Ladies at the Pantanmi Stadium, Gombe.
In an interview with www.thenwfl.com, Sabina noted that the team has been given all they need to succeed and clearly have great confidence in the players and the technical crew.
“No doubt, the technical crew have done alot to improve the quality of the squad,” She said.
“Our goal is to be competitive in the NWFL Premiership, to stay in a good position on the table and qualify for the Super 6, winning honours has to be the dream of every player in the squad, and we have to work for all these.
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“Sabina will be determined to see her team get off to a rapid start when they trade tackles with their opponent on Wednesday in Gombe, noting that a win will boost their confidence going ahead”
“It is also necessary for us to start the league on a winning note. It is going to boost our confidence and give us more power to carry on.
“So I urge all the players to put in their best on Wednesday and get the needed result.” She concluded.
“There is plenty to be positive about, when you look at the squad. We have a young side and a determined team too,” She told www.thenwfl.com
Osun Babes defender Sarah Iloduba believes the ‘Omoluabi Queens’ will do well as the 2022 NWFL Premiership season kicks off on Wednesday.
The Osogbo based side finished 5th in their group last season, missing out of the Super 6 Championship, but Osun Babes ‘cult’ heroine, Sarah Iloduba is optimistic that they can do better this season, starting with the Naija Ratels game in Abuja.
“There is plenty to be positive about, when you look at the squad. We have a young side and a determined team too,” She told www.thenwfl.com
“It is true that we have lost some good players from the last season squad, but we have to hold our heads high. We have come a long way and we aren’t looking back.
When asked about her thoughts on their first league outing against Naija Ratels in Abuja, the ferocious defender was clearly full of confidence.
“Naija Ratels are a very good side and we won’t judge them by the way they played at the Flying Officers Cup. Sometimes, Pre-seasons aren’t a perfect yardstick to judge a team.
“We saw them play in Abuja and feel they play an exciting kind of game, building from the back and that could be difficult for some teams..
“I am clearly positive about a great outing and will urge my teammates to think only about picking a good result in Abuja.” She concluded.
Naija Ratels will welcome Osun Babes on Wednesday, 8th of December, as the 2021/2022 Premiership season kicks off across various centres in the country.
As Naija Ratels gear up for their first ever topflight season, Head Coach, Bankole Olowookeere has reiterated their desire to emulate clubs who have thrived in their first NWFL Premiership season.
Bankole Olowookeere is definitely set to be a welcome addition to the NWFL Premiership due to his style of play and personality. The Nigerian National Women U-17, Flamingoes Coach is an engaging character who does not hide his emotions and he told www.thenwfl.com about his dreams for the Abuja based team.
“We start the new season with alot of hopes and determination,” He said.
“We are an ambitious club and won’t be contented with just making up the numbers. .
“We know some clubs have had a great first season in the previous campaign, but we aim to do better and achieve our goals steadily.
“Many clubs have a long history of competing in the Premiership, but we are new and want to leave our mark and at the same time we come with up with a fresh and youthful air that will make people talk. Our humility, perseverance, fight and commitment will lead us through.
Asked for his perspectives on their first league game against Osun Babes, the experienced Manager stated that starting the league in a high is very key.
“We are preparing so hard and will leave no stone unturned to get a very positive result. We have alot of respect for our opponent, but won’t show that on the pitch. He concluded.
The Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League, Aisha Falode, has congratulated the players and officials of Nigeria Women Football League Premiership club, Rivers Angels Football Club of Port Harcourt, for picking one of the two WAFU B tickets to play in the CAF Women African Champions League.
Falode, said in Lagos Tuesday that, Rivers Angels FC did Nigeria proud as they were joined by Ghana’s Hasaacas FC of to grab to qualifying tickets.
She said: “This Rivers Angels ticket is a clear testimony of the high standard of play at the Nigeria Women’s Football League. The Angels just sent confirmed to the rest of Africa, that, Nigeria’s dominance in the continent’s women’s football at the national team level, since 1991, is not a fluke.
“Our girls just affirmed Nigeria’s supremacy in the continent’s women’s football is all encompassing and not only at the national levels but also at the club level. The Super Falcons, the Super Falconets and the Flamengoes have all been dominant in African women’s football.”
Falode, who is also a board member of the NFF assured that the NWFL with the help of the Nigeria Football Federation will continue to give the country’s representative in the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League, total support to achieve the country’s heart desires to win the maiden edition of the continental club competition later this year.
“The success of Rivers Angels in this competition is that of Nigeria and of course the club itself, that is why it’s important for all Nigerian women’s football clubs to support Rivers Angels at the CAF Women’s Chamions League.”
For Rivers Angels of Nigeria and Hasaacas FC of Ghana to pick the two available WAFU B tickets, they won their semi-final matches at the Stade Robert Champroux in the Ivorian capital Abidjan on Monday.
The Angles beat Amis Du Monde of Togo 5-1 and Hasaacss defeated USFA of Burkina Faso 2-0 to reach the final and booked the region’s tickets for the Women’s Champions League proper in Egypt later this year.
Falode, noted that, winning the finals of the Regional WAFU B qualifiers will be a moracle booster to the Rivers Angels FC of Nigeria, but the big deal is the ticket for the Women’s Champions League itself.
The Nigeria Women Football League at the weekend made history with the “La Liga Show Your Other Side Challenge,” a talent show event for talented players in the women’s league in Nigeria.
It was the first of its kind for women’s football in the country, put together by the Aisha Falode-led NWFL.
Sixteen top league players were invited for the one-day challenge, they include; Rivers Angels goalkeeper Ibubeleye White, Vivian Ikechukwu, Joy Jerry, Nkechi Agams, Monday Gift, Tejiri Edwards, Glory Ogbonna among others. The players who were introduced to the crowd one after the other as football celebrities by the two masters of ceremonies: Chisom Mbonu of SuperSport and Ogechukwukanma Ogwo of Sports Radio Brila FM, were dressed in their various clubs jerseys. As they run into the pitch individually they thrilled the crowd with latest dance steps.
The players were opened to various talent displays with the ball. From the joggling of the ball with all parts of the body to penalty kicks challenge, target of the woodwork from 25 yards to free kicks. It was organised in form of competitions between Team White and Team Black, of eight players each. The event was rounded off with a Seven-A-Side football match of 20minutes each half. This witnessed a display of football artistry to the admiration of the invited spectators which included young girls from across Lagos State, the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, the Spanish High Commissioner to Nigeria His Excellency Juan Otero, La Liga Representative in Nigeria, Desmond Chiji, La Liga Ambassador to Nigeria Mutiu Adepoju, Technical Committee Chairman Lagos FA, Dotun Coker, Chairman MFM Sports, Godwin Enarkhena and football scout, Onome Obruthe, who came with the MFM female basketball team to cheer their football colleagues, at the Elegbeta Sport Ground, Apongbon, Lagos.
The NFF president and FIFA Council member, Amaju Pinnick, joined the sixteen super Stars in the penalty challenge where he took five kicks and donated N50,000 each per kick which amounted to N250,000 given to the players.
Pinnick commended the Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League, Aisha Falode, and her team in the NWFL for their consistency and renewed vigour to further develop Women’s football in Nigeria.
He noted that, Falode’s Midas touch in the organisation of developmental programmes for women football clubs, is quite commendable and we in the NFF appreciate her commitment and dedication to take the game to greater heights in Nigeria and indeed the African continent.
Pinnick reiterated that just some weeks ago; “NFF board members and other Nigerian top football administrators were at the Dipo Dina International Stadium Ijebu-Ode to support Aisha Falode in the NWFL Super Six which came out to be a revolution in the development of the gender game in Africa. It was a great success because of the hard work put in by the NWFL led by Falode. We are happy in the NFF because she has continually made our job easy in the area of women football develoment.
“The result of these is imminent sponsorship for the NWFL League, and we are optimistic this will come very soon.”
The chairperson of the NWFL, Aisha Falode, in her comment at the event venue, was full of appreciation for the La Liga Women’s Department for their consistent drive to develop women’s football in Nigeria and by extension in Africa.
She noted that; “In 2018, in an agreement signed in Spain by me and the La Liga Women’s Department, La Liga entered a partnership with the NWFL that enables Nigerian women league champions embark on a tour of Spain where quality games will be arranged for them to further raise the standard of the game.
“The same agreement included the institution of a technical partnership with the NWFL to train all coaches in the NWFL Premiership clubs in Advanced Coaching Courses and Seminar aimed at boosting their technical knowledge. All these culminated to the world-class standard of play exhibited by all the teams that qualified for the Super Six in Ijebu Ode.
“The deliberate efforts by La Liga to take Nigerian women’s football league to the pinnacle of the gender game in the world, is well appreciated,” Falode said.
The duo of Pelican Stars Football club of Calabar and Abia Angels of Aba today escaped relegation at the University of Benin Sports complex and thus will remain in the elite women’s league.
Pelican Stars finished tops with five points on the table after playing a goalless draw against Ibom Angels in their last Play-Off game. They went into today’s match with four points from two matches.
Abia Angels of Aba finished second place with 4 points and zero goal difference to join Pelican Stars as the second team to escape relegation and remain in the NWFL Premiership. Abia escaped by the whisker as they lost 3-2 to Dreamstar Ladies in the last game of the Play-Off. Abia opened a two-goal lead in he first half, only for Dreamstar Ladies who are masters of the second half, to pull the two goals deficit back and shot into lead with a third goal to keep scores at 3-2. If Dreamstar Ladies had scored one more goal, they would have been on same minus one goal difference and would have won on head-to-head permutations. But unfortunately, by the time they shot into lead at 3-2 the game was left with 2 minutes of pay on the watch. The Lagos team that also finished with four points, slided into relegation with a minus one inferior goal difference.
Dreamstar Ladies and Ibom Angels will now play in the NWFL Championship next season, while Pelican Stars and Abia Angels will continue their sorjourn in the NWFL Premiership League.
The final matches of the NWFL Premiership Play-Off today, officially marked the end of the Women’s Premiership League.
Just as we had a photo finish at the NWFL Premiership Super Six in Ijebu Ode some weeks ago, where the league champions and Nigeria’s representative to the WAFU B qualifiers for the CAF Women Champions League emerged, a similar situation of yet another photo finish has presented itself at the NWFL Premiership Play-Off in Benin City, as all the four teams in the competition for survival in the league must win their games in today’s final matches at the University of Benin Sports complex, Ugbowo, or be condemned to relegation.
The final games will be played simultaneously at 3pm at the Main Bowl and the practice pitch of the University of Benin, Ugbowo campus, between Pelican Stars of Calabar and Ibom Angels in a traditional clash of superiority between the Effiks and the Ibibios, on one hand, and Abia Angels of Aba versus Dreamstar Ladies of Lagos.
In the Pelican Stars versus Ibom Angels’ game, the Calabarians’ perennial former champions of the Nigeria Women’s League need just a draw against the Akwa Ibomites to survive relegation from the Premiership League. A draw would take them to unassailable five points good enough to guaranty their survival for another season. While a win against the Angels will be an added advantage, giving them seven points, while a loss may not be an option.
For Ibom Angels to swim out of relegation waters, they must as a necessity beat Pelican Stars by 2-0 and pray for Dreamstar Ladies to defeat Abia Angels by any margin. On the other if the Akwa Ibomites wants a guaranteed insurance cover to escape relegation, they must to beat the Effiks by 3-0. This will take them to four points and +2 goal difference to triumph on head-to-head permutations.
In the Abia Angels versus Dreamstar Ladies game, the Ann Agumanu Chiejine-tutored girls need just a draw to take them to five points, good enough to sustain them in the NWFL Premiership. A win will give them seven points and a survival in the elite league. While a loss by 3-0 against the Abdulrahman Abolore team would see them sinking into the relegation waters, so the must avoid a loss.
For the agitated Dreamstar Ladies following a N2.5million sanction of the club and the indefinite ban of their coach by the NWFL, they will come out to prove a point at least to save the life of the club. Dreamstar Ladies go into today’s final game with just one point and a minus two goals-difference. For them to survive relegation for a second season running, they must defeat Abia Angels with as much as three replied goals. Two season’s ago the Lagos Girls survived a more difficult relegation battle, so they have what it takes to get a much desired lifeline when it matters most, but would Ann Agumanu-Chiejine and her Abia Girls allow Dreamstar Ladies dance the ‘Macabre’ dance in front of them with relegation waters beckoning.
The results of the two games today will determine the two teams that will survive and the two that would be consumed by relegation from the NWFL Premiership, as the season officially ends in flying colours as the Aisha Falode-led NWFL board has succeeded in raising the bar of the women football league not only in Nigeria but also in the African continent..
Ann Chiejine has told her Abia Angels side that she wants to see them do more on the pitch when they face Dreamstar Ladies in their final game of the NWFL Premiership Relegation Play-Offs.
The Super Falcons Coach hailed her side’s commitment in their 1-0 over a more experienced Ibom Angels, tasking them to go all out and get the maximum points.
“Winning against a team like Ibom Angels is a great task, because they are a really experienced and good side. The good thing is that the players played to instruction and am glad we got the maximum points.
“I hail their commitment and determination that they showed all through the game, and I hope they will do better on tuesday, when we face another difficult side, Dreamstar Ladies.
“Retaining the Premiership status is our target, same as every team participating here and am positive that the win against Ibom Angels will spur us to victory on tuesday.” She concluded.
Abia Angel are currently second on the log of the NWFL Premiership Relegation Play-Offs with 4 points in two games and will battle Dreamstar Ladies on tuesday in the last round of games.
The board of the Nigeria Women Football League headed by Aisha Falode, has slammed a N2.5 million fine on Dreamstar Ladies Football Club of Lagos, the team’s coach and founder of the club for abandoning a league game and bringing the credibility of the NWFL Premiership League to public ridicule.
These sanctions were contained in a letter written to the management of Dreamstars Ladies Football Club and signed by the Chief Operating Officer of the NWFL, Modupe Shabi.
It reads: “The board of the Nigeria Women Football League frowned at the unruly behaviour of Dreamstar Ladies FC of Lagos in the match No: 4 of the ongoing 2020/2021 NWFL Premiership Play-Off played on May 9, 2021, at the University of Benin Sports complex, Edo State.
“Consequently, the following sanctions are hereby imposed on the club: Dreamstar Ladies FC have been fined the sum of One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,500,000) for abandoning the above named match in the 85th minute of play.
“The club is also fined an additional sum of One Million Naira (N1,000,000) for the unruly behaviour of the Head Coach, Mr. Sheriff Tajudeen and the Founder of Dreamstar Ladies FC, Mr. Abdulrahman Abolore, for bringing the credibility of the league to public ridicule.
“In addition, the Head Coach of Dreamstar Ladies FC, Mr. Sheriff Tajudeen, is hereby suspended indefinitely from all NWFL organised competitions with immediate effect for bringing the game to di
Abia Angels and Pelican Stars brightened their chances of remaining in the top flight after they earned their first victories of the 2021 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership Playoffs on Sunday in games played at the University of Benin Sports Complex, Benin.
Super Falcons and Ibom Angels’ defender Blessing Edoho inadvertently nodded the ball beyond the reach of her goalkeeper for an own goal in the third minute to hand a priceless 1-0 win to Abia Angels who had started the playoffs with a 1-1 draw with Pelican Stars of Calabar.
Pelican Stars produced a barnstorming performance in their 4-2 defeat of DreamStar FC Ladies who abandoned the game in the 85th minute based on the instructions of their head coach, Sheriff Tajudeen who was serving a touchline ban for his unsportsmanlike behaviour in their 2-2 draw with Ibom Angels on Saturday in the first game.
Ogechi Ukwuoma scored the opening goal of the game for Pelican Stars in the sixth minute but Olamide Adugbe battled harder to get the Galacticas’ equaliser in the 19th minute.
Ogechi Ukwuoma notched her second goal of the game to restore Pelican Stars’ lead in the 21st minute while former Adamawa Queens’ player, Oluchi Janice Nwachukwu made it 3-1 for Pelican Stars in the 33rd minute.
Tosin Ogundeko pulled a goal back for DreamStar FC Ladies before Remi Omamuli’s goal in the 82nd minute sealed the game for the Calabar-based side.
Pelican Stars and Abia Angels with four points each occupied the first and second position on the Playoffs table after two games while Ibom Angels and DreamStar FC Ladies with a point each occupied the third and fourth positions after two games.
Monday, May 10, 2021, will be a rest day with the final game of the Playoffs expected to take place on Tuesday, May 11, 2021.
Pelican Stars will need a draw against Ibom Angels in a South-South derby but an emphatic victory for the Akwa Ibom Ladies could swing the result in their favour.
Abia Angels with Ann Agumanu-Chiejine barking instructions from the dugout will also require a point against DreamStar Ladies to stay afloat in the NWFL Premiership.
Two teams will retain their NWFL Premiership spot while the bottom two teams will drop to the NWFL Championship.
