Amaju Pinnick PHOTO:Getty Images
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, has described the just concluded NWFL/LaLiga ‘Show Your Other Side Challenge’ as an effective tool in Nigerian Women Football League’s efforts to develop the ladies game in the country.
Pinnick, who commended NWFL Chairperson, Aisha Falode, and her team for their consistency and renewed vigour to further develop women’s football in Nigeria, said the body has shown that it has the capacity to grow the game to the highest possible level.
Speaking during the NWFL/LaLiga Programme at the Elegbeta Sports Ground, Apongbon, Lagos Island, at the weekend, the FIFA Council member said Falode has demonstrated through various developmental programmes that with dedication and careful planning women football could rise to great heights.
He said: “The 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 development.
“The result of these is imminent sponsorship for the NWFL League and we are optimistic this will come very soon.”
Pinnick joined the 16 invited women league players from across the country in a penalty shootout that added colour to the ‘La Liga Show Your Other Side Challenge.’
In the shootout, the NFF president took five kicks and donated N50, 000 per kick, which amounted to N250,000 for the players.
Earlier, Falode thanked LaLiga Women’s Department for their consistent drive to develop the game in Nigeria. She recalled:
“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 of La Liga to take Nigerian women’s football league to the pinnacle of the gender game in the world, is well appreciated.”
Among the dignitaries at the event were the Spanish High Commissioner to Nigeria, Juan Antonio Moreno Otero, La Liga Representative in Nigeria, Desmond Chiji, and La Liga Ambassador to Nigeria, Mutiu Adepoju.