The Chairman of Nigeria Women League Board (NWLB) Dili Onyedinma has expressed happiness over the recently held first-ever FIFA Women Coaching Seminar organized by Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and financed by FIFA for women football coaches in the country, saying the development is an indication of a better future for women football in Nigeria.

The 6-day clinic which was held in Pak View Hotel and FIFA Goal Project center Abuja was supervised by a South African FIFA instructor, Fran Hilton Smith who thumped-up the attitude and conduct of the participants.

Onyedinma while reacting to newsmen after the event commended the leadership of NFF who she said for the first time facilitated a training and capacity building program for our women football coaches.

“The second FIFA Member Association Elite Course for referees, referee instructors and physical fitness instructors, just ended in Abuja, and we just witnessed the first-ever FIFA Women Coaching Seminar. These are part of several high-profile coaching clinics and refereeing courses that the Aminu Maigari administration attracted to Nigeria since coming into office two years ago”, Onyedinma noted.

She urged the 25 women football coaches invited for the exercise out of which about 20 took part to maximize all the derivable benefits associated with the clinics and bring the knowledge to bear on the game.

The NWLB boss however, called for more such programmes maintaining that if Nigeria must maintain its dominance of women football in Africa more emphasis should be placed on capacity building of technical personnel.

Also speaking in the same vein, Coach Ngozi Okafor who is handling FTC Queens FC of Abuja in the Nigeria Women League and also among participants at the clinics said the clinics would in no small measure boost their level of productivity as a soccer coach handling women.

Okafor noted that the FIFA instructor who conducted the clinic was quite resourceful and had really imparted them with modern coaching techniques by taking them through many new helpful coaching routines during the practical aspect of the workshop.

Among other coaches that took part in the course are Ann Chiejine, who was first-choice goalkeeper for the Super Falcons at three FIFA World Cup finals, the 2000 Olympic Games and several African Women Championship finals, and Rita Nwadike, another former Super Falcons’ star who is Assistant Coach of the current Super Falcons’ squad.

Akanbi Agiri