The board of the NigeriaWomen Football League, headed by Aisha Falode, has insisted on the staging of the NWFL Premiership Super Six to determine the league champion and the country’s two representatives for the inaugural CAF Women Champions League, as agreed by the NWFL and the NWFL Premiership Club Owners on April 5, 2021, in a virtual meeting attended by all the clubs’ representatives.
The Chairperson of the NWFL, Aisha Falode, said yesterday morning that, some of the Premiership Club Owners that held another meeting on Saturday, April 10, 2021, on a concluded matter, cannot arm-twist the NWFL to accept the decisions taken in another meeting, which contained some decisions which in all ramifications are capable of putting the women’s league into disrepute.
Falode noted; “ The April 5 decision to play a Super Six has been sealed and date communicated to the Secretariat of the Confederation of African Football in official correspondence. CAF has accepted this plan and format and has given us April 26, a day after the conclusion of the Super Six in Ijebu Ode, Ogun state, to submit the names of the two Nigerian club representatives for the CAF Women Champions League.
“There is no going back on this as the stage is set for the Super Six competition and the relegation battles.
“Whatever happened to some of the clubs after the April 5 decisions that were widely applauded, I don’t know, but the fact remains, there’s no going back on the Super Six.
“After the conclusion of Week 13 matches which signalled the end of the first round of the 2020/2021 season, the top six teams celebrated their qualifications and plans have started immediately to prepare for the Super Six. Some of the states like the Ondo State Government, owners of one of the qualifying teams, Sunshine Queens, came out with an official statement congratulating Sunshine. Same with other states and private owners.
“It was however strange to see another set of people gather to attempt to pour cold water on the enterprise of the NWFL hard-earned successes over the years. We know some of the club’s representatives succumbed to external forces who don’t want the progress of the women’s league in Nigeria, but we won’t allow them to scuttle the progress made so far by the NWFL, as it was hard-earned due to hard work.”
Falode added that; “The April 5 decision for a Super Six was a patriotic one by the clubs after a vote of 10 to 1 and three undecided. This would see the league end on April 25, and the country’s two representatives presented well on time for the WAFU qualifiers for the CAF Women Champions League, in May.
“Some of the decisions in the communique sent out yesterday by those who sent it were not progressive. Asking that a past winner of the league is picked as Nigeria’s representative to the CAF Women Champions League, will be unfair to the current league leaders after 13 weeks of the league. It’s only logical and fair to engage the top six clubs in a Super Six challenge to get the two of Nigeria’s representatives.
“The same with Bottom Eight battle against relegation. The bottom teams that believed they are too good to be relegated have up to seven matches to prove themselves worthy of staying in the Premiership if they are good enough for the top flight. This is more befitting than saying no team should be relegated.
“We know those pushing some of the clubs to make frivolous requests, but we won’t allow them to distract us, as we insist on the NWFL Super Six, there is no going back.