She has just been nominated for FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year award, but NFF don’t want her anymore

Despite her success as Super Falcons boss, the NFF are trying to replace Florence Omagbemi

Published: 18.08.2017
Steve Dede


Florence Omagbemi has been axed by the NFF despite success as Super Falcons boss (Pulse)

Florence Omagbemi is not wanted anymore by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) despite leading to the Super Falcons to the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) title in 2016.

Omagbemi was appointed coach of the Super Falcons in February 2016 after the sacking of Edwin Okon following a poor outing at the 2015 Women’s FIFA World Cup in Canada.

Following Super Falcons AWCON title win in 2016, Omagbemi became the first woman to win the trophy as a player and a coach.



Despite her achievements, the Delta State born coach is no longer wanted by the NFF who are on the verge of reappointing Okon as coach of the Super Falcons.

Pulse Sports learnt that the Technical Committee of the NFF have recommended Okon to replace Omagbemi as coach of the Super Falcons.

According to Complete Sports, Omagbemi is not wanted by the NFF because of the role she played in her players’ protests over unpaid allowances and wages after the 2016 AWCON in Cameroon.

Super Falcons players staged a sit-in protest at their hotel in Abuja and later took to the streets before they were paid in December 2016.


Edwin Okon who was fired in 2015 has been recommended to replace Florence Omagbemi by the NFF Technical Committee (TheNFF.com)

Complete Sports report that majority of the NFF Executive Committee agree to with the recommendation of the Technical Committee even though President Amaju Pinnick wants Omagbemi to continue.

Pinnick and Omagbemi are both from Delta State.

“We want to see how they will impose people who embarrassed the NFF and Nigeria with their protest and indiscipline on us. If we cannot afford a foreign coach for the Super Falcons, Okon is the best option at home. His record speaks for him as coach of Rivers Angels,” a top executive member is quoted to say by Complete Sports

Some quarters in the NFF are blaming Florence Omagbemi for the leading the 2016 protest of the Super Falcons (Twitter/PoojaMedia)

The discord has brought about a delay in the appointment of a new Super Falcons coach. Christopher Danjuma has been appointed coach of the national Under-20 women team, the Falconets.

Omagbemi was on Thursday, August 17 announced as one of the nominees for the 2017 FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year award.

She was also nominated for the 2016 CAF Coach of the Year award which she didn’t win.

Laloko blasts NFF over Omagbemi’s sacking
On October 21, 2017
10:04 pm

Former Nigeria Football Federation technical director, Kashimawo Laloko said the NFF has erred by removing Florence Omagbemi from her position as Super Falcons coach.

The NFF has announced Randy Waldrum a USA coach technical adviser, for the national women team, despite Omagbemi leading the team to their 8th Africa Women Nations Cup title in Cameroon this year. It was speculated that the NFF replaced the former Super Falcons captain and midfielder for her inability to control the team players following their stand-off with the NFF over unpaid allowances.

Omagbami was in the Super Falcons as a player for a very long time. “I knew her back then with Jegede Babes. “If you were asking people to reapply, it is the politics of the show that they want to play. “This lady did a lot for this nation both as a player and a coach. Even after winning the trophy in Cameroun they still asked her to go. “I think they simply wanted to find a way to eliminate her after the players’ demands,” said Laloko Waldrum managed Trinidad & Tobago’s women’s side between 2014 and 2016, and his appointment is subject to contract terms being agreed with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He was fired as coach of the Houston Dash women’s football team in May.

Despite the honours the Super Falcons have won for Nigeria, why are they still disrespected?
igeria won the African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) for the 8th time after a 1–0 win over Cameroun in Yaounde. The winning goal was scored by Desire Oparanozie for Nigeria to retain the trophy they won in Namibia two years ago. This is the third time Nigeria is defeating Cameroun in the history of the AWCON competition, the Lionesses lost the AWCON title to Nigeria in the 2004 edition when lost 5 – 0, then in the 2014 edition, Nigeria beat Cameroun 2 – 0 courtesy of goals from Asisat Oshoala and Desire Oparanozie.

Nigeria won AWCON the title in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014 but lost two editions of the competitions to Equatorial Guinea in 2008 and 2012. The Super Falcons have shown dedication over the years by qualifying for every tournament. They have won the tournament back to back by staying consistent, a feat which has been arduous for the Super Eagles. But the Super Falcons are still underappreciated and often disrespected compared to their male counterparts.

The Super Falcons returned to the country on Sunday after their victory but not without allegations of shoddy treatment by the Nigeria Football Federation. NFF officials and sports minister, Solomon Dalung, reportedly travelled on a chartered flight to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon where the Super Falcons played their final match against the tournament hosts. The football officials and the sports minister allegedly left the stadium for the airport without meeting with the victorious Nigerian team. According to sports journalist, Jessica Amadi, who was with the team, while the Super Falcons were made to travel to Douala by road, the administrators left on a chartered flight. The journalist on Sunday stated that flight arrangements were later made for the team.

The African champions who flew to Douala for a connecting trip to Nigeria, however, had to travel without their bags due to the size of the Camair-co plane used in conveying the team. The team’s luggage were therefore transported to Douala by road. Amadi, in a series of posts on her Twitter page, reported that the Nigerian High Commission in Cameroon expressed its disappointment with the manner the NFF officials conducted themselves.

But this has been the narrative for over a decade, former Nigerian star, Vera Okolo also spilled the beans about the dismal way the Super Falcons were treated by the NFF at the 2004 African Women’s Championship in South Africa. She spoke about her displeasure at the welfare of the players while on duty for their country. The former African Women Footballer of the Year nominee lamented how the Nigerian Football Federation abandoned the team in terms of match bonuses and feeding. She explained how the team overcame these challenges with help of Nigerians in South Africa.

The Super Falcons have won the Women’s Africa Nations Cup more than any other country and made it to every Women’s World Cup since the FIFA competition began in 1991. Despite the honours the women’s team has won for the nation, they are still being treated as second-class citizens compared to their male counterparts who failed to qualify for the African Cup of Nations kicking off in Gabon at the start of 2017 and have failed to qualify for two consecutive editions. News reports stated that the Falcons were paid a paltry 10,000 naira each after they successfully booked a ticket to the 2016 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations which is in contrast with the men’s team, whose players get paid 800,000 naira each for a draw and 1 million naira for a win. The women are also reportedly still owed their bonuses for qualifying for last year’s World Cup in Canada. The women received 100,000 naira for every match won at the World Cup, while the men got 760, 000 naira. And while the male team was lodged in five-star hotels, the women’s team was regularly kept in substandard accommodation, said Nnamdi Okosieme. But this scenario is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. The USA women’s national team stepped up its case for equal pay during a segment of CBS’s 60 Minutes, landing a spot on the traditional post-NFL Sunday show and claiming that women deserve to be paid not just the same as the men, but more.

For a long time now, the Super Falcons have been playing for peanuts and the poor treatment of the women’s football team by the NFF is another symptom of the rot of gender inequality that has eaten into many sectors of society. The Super Falcons deserve to be given as much respect and appreciation as their male counterparts, and it is high time Nigeria started celebrating her football heroines.

kenddys:
i thought the nff has sub bodies to deal with the diff levels of football


and is the aiteo money only for the eagles


oyin.didi what can you say about this?