NWFL: Two Years of Retrogression, Chaos, and Missed Opportunities Ends Abysmally.
The much-criticized tenure of the Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), the apex body charged with the administration and development of women’s football in Nigeria, has finally come to an ignominious end. Officially commencing in July 2023 and concluding on June 30, 2025, the period will go down in history as one of the darkest and most disappointing eras in Nigerian women’s football.
What began with optimism and the promise of repositioning the women’s league for global competitiveness quickly descended into administrative turmoil, financial irresponsibility, and widespread disillusionment. A chapter that stakeholders, players, coaches, match officials, and fans alike would rather forget.
A Catalogue of Failures
From the outset, the administration was marred by a disturbing pattern of poor governance, unilateral decision-making, and a blatant disregard for established protocols and football administration ethics. The league’s governance structure was practically reduced to a one-woman show, with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) left to shoulder responsibilities that, by statute, required collective board approval and strategic oversight.
Venue selection for flagship events like the Super 6 became a national embarrassment, with the Chairperson reportedly left begging state football associations and stadium managers for hosting rights, a task that ought to have been secured through long-term partnerships and pre-planned calendars.
Worse still was the handling of marketing and sponsorship drives. Agreements were allegedly signed off with personal account details, a deeply unprofessional and unethical practice that severely compromised the credibility of the NWFL as a corporate entity and left potential sponsors wary of engaging.
Financial Mismanagement and Erosion of Autonomy
Under the just ended administration, the NWFL’s financial independence, a cornerstone of any credible professional league, was eroded. In what stakeholders described as a disgraceful anomaly, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had to step in to pay match officials’ indemnities and staff salaries for two consecutive seasons, expenses that should have been independently covered by the league.
The Gusau-led NFF Board, in a desperate bid to ensure the league did not collapse completely, perpetuated this anomaly, exposing the systemic rot within the NWFL and its leadership’s inability to meet even the most basic obligations.
Boardroom Crisis and Stakeholder Disenchantment
The tenure was riddled with internal strife. At least one board member formally tendered a resignation, citing unprofessional conduct and unilateral governance. Decision-making processes were reportedly shrouded in secrecy, with little or no consultation with fellow board members or key stakeholders.
Perhaps the most devastating decision was the scrapping of the Nationwide League, Nigeria’s only organized non-professional women’s league, without a viable replacement. This short-sighted and ill-conceived move effectively strangled the grassroots development pipeline and alienated hundreds of aspiring female footballers across the country.
Attempts to revive or introduce state leagues were mere lip service. In truth, only a handful of states with pre-existing structures managed to stage competitions, exposing the central administration’s failure to galvanize meaningful national participation.
Unpaid Match Indemnities: A Shameful Legacy
In a final act of administrative negligence, the league body failed to pay match indemnities to referees and match commissioners for the just-concluded NWFL Premiership season. In some instances, payments were significantly delayed, while in others, match officials are yet to receive their dues, a far cry from the relative financial discipline the league maintained in previous years.
This glaring failure not only demoralized match officials but also damaged the league’s professional reputation within the domestic and continental football community.
Marketing Woes and Sponsorship Failures
Arguably the most damning indictment of this administration was its complete inability to attract credible title or commercial sponsors. While inflated marketing projections and baseless claims of impending partnerships were routinely paraded, there was no tangible increase in revenue, brand visibility, or media rights deals capable of lifting the league’s profile or benefiting its players.
The NWFL’s marketing strategy during this period was little more than empty rhetoric, all noise, no substance. In a continent where countries like Morocco, South Africa, and Ghana are making bold strides in women’s football marketing and partnerships, Nigeria’s premier women’s league wallowed in stagnation and irrelevance.
Two Years of Regress and Self-Inflicted Crises
Rather than consolidating on the modest gains of previous administrations and tapping into the rapidly growing global interest in women’s6 football, this tenure systematically moved the league ten steps backward.
While leagues in other African countries secured TV rights, expanded their player export markets, and attracted reputable sponsors, the NWFL became a cautionary tale of how not to run a football league.
A New Era Must Begin
As this abysmal chapter closes, the urgent need for sincere, visionary, and professional leadership cannot be overstated. The NWFL must be repositioned with transparent governance structures, sustainable marketing strategies, and a deliberate grassroots development blueprint to restore it to its rightful place at the heart of African women’s football.
Stakeholders, from club owners to coaches, players, fans, and corporate Nigeria, must insist on accountability, competence, and genuine commitment in whoever emerges as the next leader of the NWFL.
The failures of the last two years must not be in vain. They should serve as painful but necessary lessons, and a warning against leadership driven by personal ego, unprofessionalism, and administrative recklessness.
