Not many corporate brands would want to touch women football in Nigeria, not alone partner with any of its competitions. Though, Nigeria has dominated women football in Africa over the last three decades or so, yet the development of the gender sport locally have been very slow.
Football is largely seen as men's thing and most of the funds are directed to both the men football leagues and clubs. Perhaps, because of government discriminations in allocation of funds as well as brands distancing themselves, the organisation of Nigeria Women Premier League (NWPL) have been shabby over the years with lots of walkovers....clubs not having enough funds to travel and meet up with match schedules.
So the women season ends and a piece of silverwsre handed over to the winning team without any prize money attached... The league is suspended indiscriminately and teams also are disbanded at will.
Research conducted by GreenHunters Sports International shows that consumers still see women’s football as laughable (novelty entertainment ) with the following stats: competitive (38%), skilled (34%), inspiring (36%), successful (33%), progressive (30%) and clean (21%), while only 8% would describe women football as money driven compared to 69% for men football.
But in June 2017, the Nigeria Football Federation finalized a five year deal with AITEO Group for the naming rights of the women challenge cup along with the men Federations cup competition. That year River Angels won the competition and went home N10 million prize money, while the runners up Akwa women got N6 million.
The prize money obviously have been a push in the ongoing Aiteo Women Cup as more team came in this year's edition more prepared and motivated. The competition attracting more fans in the various centers. In just one year, the interest has grown, the games averaging 5000 attendances.
Statistics show that of the 29% who are interested in women football, 61% are female and 39% male. This is compared to the overall football fan, which skews as 75% male versus 25% female. According to the data, people aged 7 - 14 and 45 - 60 are most likely to like women’s football... that means women football are becoming more family friendly.
