Ugochukwu Iwuchukwu
The victorious Super Falcons of Nigeria returned back to the country on Sunday after winning the ninth African Women’s Cup of Nations title in Ghana.
The Super Falcons edged a resilient South African Banyana Banyana side 4-3 on penalties after a scoreless 120 minutes, to lift the top African women football title for the third successive time and ninth time overall.
The team landed at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja and was welcomed by the President of Nigeria Football Federation NFF, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, alongside the Secretary-General of NFF Mohammed Sanusi, the Honourable Minister for Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Abubakar, as well as other officials of the NFF.
The team will be hosted today by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Alhaji Mohammed Musa Bello.
The team will now fly the African flag at the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France alongside runners-up South Africa and third place team Cameroon.
Meanwhile, former Super Eagles goalkeeper Peterside Idah has congratulated the Super Falcons for their hard earned victory against South Africa.
Peterside Idah boasted that the AWCON title is Nigeria’s birthright because of the team’s experience and exposure to women’s football in Africa.
In the meantime, the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria SWAN has applauded the resilience of the Super Falcons for overcoming all odds to win the 2018 African Women’s Cup of Nations.
SWAN also challenged the Nigeria Football Federation NFF to keep its promises of commencing preparations for the 2019 FIFA Women’s world cup on time.
SWAN in a statement signed by the Administrative Secretary, Martins Mejabi, said the team can only perform better in next year’s world cup with good preparations.
