Asisat Oshoala is a well known face in the world of football today. The 2015 BBC World Woman Footballer of the year; and three times CAF AfricaWoman Footballer of the year 2014, 2016 and 2017; may have brought growing interest into women football in Nigeria.
Oshoala currently earn $20,000 USD a week playing with Dalian Quanjian in Chinese Women Super League, far beyond what most of Nigerian men footballers earn even in Europe. She has played for some of the biggest women clubs in the world: Arsenal and Liverpool.
Oshoala is a product of FC Robo and Rivers Angels, two of top flight clubs in Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL). The league that has produced world class players like Francesca Oredga, now playing for Atletico Madrid in Spain, Desire Oparanozie playing for Guigamp in France, was also a product of Bayelsa Queens; Maureen Mmadu last played for Avaldsnes IL in Norway and a product of Jegede Babes here in Nigeria.
Sport marketing school of thought point out that put side by side, Women football has done better than their men counterpart. Super Falcons has won African women championship 8 times as against Super Eagles winning only 3 AFCON trophies.
Super Falcons has at their best got to the quarter finals of Fifa world cup in 1999, while Super Eagles only got to the round of sixteen in 2002.
When it comes to Individual honors, Asisat Oshoala, Super Falcons' player remain the only Nigerian ever to have won BBC World Woman footballer of the year in 2015
Then put together Mercy Akide Udo, Pepetua Nwocha and Asisat Oshoala have won Africa woman footballer of the year ten times as against Rashidi Yekini, Emmanuel Amunieke, Victor Ikpeba and Nwankwo Kanu winning six times in the men version. Pepetua Nwocha won four times more than any Nigerian: 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011.
Recently, women football has began to balance up interest. Data reveals that attendance averaged at 5000 in Samuel Ogbomudia Stadium Benin during 2017 NWFL Super Eight play off last year and in this years 2018 Aiteo Cup, the Women has recorded more attendance than the men. Aiteo Cup women's games attendance averaging at 7000 while men's games attendance averaging at 5600.
The thing is, women football are more condusive for family attendance and for blues entertainment devoid of such inordinate tensions arising from the quest to win at all cost seen in most men football games.
With some high profile events on the way over the next year: Fifa women World Cup in France June 2019 and the African women qualifiers going on, Sport marketers forum are saying that there could be a tangible shift of attention and gender balanced interest in women's football across Nigeria. So this is the right time for more brands to get involved?
I know there’s still a perception that the market is relatively immature or it’s one that brand managers don't know very well, so the sense of risk seems a little high.
The big thing we picked up on when we were sounding out our case to some brand managers at the forum was that there isn’t enough data to support the claims that women football in Nigeria is making about itself.
To help build the business case, GreenHunters Sports International is ready to partner with NWFL and it's clubs to highlight the value of womeit's Football in Nigeria based on data and go all out to convince brands to take Sponsorship like Aiteo. If you are interest contact us: +234(0)809 877 2556 or email: gh.sports1@gmail.com
