It is heart-warming that 16 years after its last appearance at the Summer Olympics Games, the Nigerian national female team, the Super Falcons, have made it to the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament or Summer Olympics in Paris, France, to be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024. The team qualified ahead of the Banyana Banyana of South Africa, having secured a 1-0 victory at MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja and the nil-nil draw at Lotus Versfeld, Pretoria.
The Super Falcons qualified alongside the Copper Queens of Zambia, who eliminated the Moroccan national female team to advance. Super Falcons have, once again, asserted itself as the dominant force in African female football, a record that was, in recent years, challenged by a few rivals. The triumph of the Super Falcons over the Banyana Banyana has earned the team the much-needed bragging rights over their perennial rivals.
The team and the coaching crew, led by the American manager, Randy Waldrum, deserve our commendations for putting together a solid team that qualified for the global soccer showpiece, just like it did by qualifying for the FIFA 2023 World Cup in Australia, where it squared off against some of the best female teams in world football and almost upset the eventual finalist, England in the second round. It is a sign of greater things to come.
In Paris, the Super Falcons have been pitched against some of the powerhouses of female football, Brazil, Spain and Japan, or the so-called “group of death.” Some analysts have already written off the chances of the Super Falcons to make it at the group stage because of the quality of the teams in the group. However, the Super Falcons should not accept the tag of minnows in their quest to rewrite history at the Paris Olympics. In its three Olympic appearances so far, the Super Falcons had won only one match, scored seven goals and conceded seventeen goals. Apart from being unflattering results, they did not reflect the status of the team as the best female football team in Africa.
In Paris, heroism and immortality beckon on the team. They must not disappoint Nigerians and their numerous fans. The Super Falcons should borrow a leaf from their male counterparts, the Dream Team, which became the first African team in history to win an Olympic Gold medal in football at the Atlanta Summer Olympic Games in 1996. The Dream Team shocked the world by beating Brazil and Argentina, which had the best of footballers in the globe then, in the semi-final and final, to claim the coveted trophy.
The Super Falcons should be inspired by that feat, which contributed in making stars like Kanu Nwankwo, Jayjay Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Taribo West, Victor Ikpeba, and others who have become football immortals in the country. The 2008 Dream Team squad also won silver, a feat which the female team has yet to equal. The female team should, therefore, be more ambitious on the global sporting scene.
To achieve a better result this time around, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) should ensure that funds are made available to the team for early preparations. Enticing bonuses should be included to motivate them. Waldrum has described the current Super Falcons team as a generational team capable of springing a surprise at the Summer Olympics. All the enablers of success must be activated to make this dream a reality. Nigerian fans should also rally round the team, just like they did with the Super Eagles at the recent African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Ivory Coast.
Over the years, football has become a unifying force among Nigerians, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or political affiliation. When the national team wins, Nigerians rejoice. When it loses, the grief is mutually shared. The Super Falcons should realise that much is expected from them at the Summer Olympics. They should not go to the tournament as mere spectators. Nigerians expect the Super Falcons to go to Paris and win the trophy.