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Benson Chukwueke is a Sports Marketing and Management Consultant. CEO, GreenHunters Sports International and the publisher of Online football magazine, "CheerOnNigeria." He has conducted a lot of research studies and written papers on Nigerian football.
Football is an invention by men for men and today the majority of players and fans are men. In a football crazy country like Nigeria, the beautiful game in actually a major way of life in the social-cultural fabric of this largest black country in the world.
A lot of people consume football on daily basis either as a player or a fan. But the fact remains that what they actually consume is men's football. Research shows that women football consumers and fans are very limited. It is not only a case of Nigeria, but across the world as a whole.
Analysis of Women Football Consumption Pattern in Nigeria
Based on gender and socialization theories, women in general lack interest in football and many could hardly stand men's football, the whims and caprices of men football fans, annoys them. They often chide their husband and their boy child for such noise and loudness during football games and would rather go to bed if nothing else to do. Some women, out of their personal effort to align with family values, may have become such a passive football fan.
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The main questions refer to the numbers of women supporters and their patterns of football consumption. The sources of information are readers and user data of mass media, results of surveys about the habits of the Nigerian women population and the results of an interview study with women football analysts in Nigeria.
In a country of 216,037,254 current total population, with 109,396,426 current male population (50.6%) and 106,640,828 current female population (49.4%), have only an estimated 973,000 women (both actively and passive) football consumers (less than 1% of women population). Estimated 12,000 total players. More grassroots, but including 1674 in the women league and 104 playing professional football abroad. Women supporters estimated 920,000 across board in the country.
The minority of Women supporters who attend football games.
For instance, a full capacity stadium of 20,000 spectators you could hardly count 500 women in attendance. So, women fans have to act and speak the language of men to be accepted among their fold.
How do wonen adapt to a “man’s game” and what are their roles in this “male-environment”? The statements of interviewees revealed that women fans have to cope with a measure of sexism, but that they can adopt the men’s perspectives in order to be accepted as “authentic fans”.
Other women reacted on men’s domination in the football stadium or viewing centers by seeking a women only fan group which allows them to find their own way to be women and fans. Hardly can you find such in our stadium here in Nigeria. Even in women football games we still found about 70% of the spectators to be men.
Unfortunately, women fans are often seen as "tomboys" by the men folk, and you can't expect them to treat you like a real lady, always the odd ones out in the crowd.
The Great Achievements of Women Football in Nigeria
The achievement of women football in comparison with that of men in Nigeria, should have given women football more attention that it rightly deserves.
The Nigerian women national team, Super Falcons had been to all the FIFA Women's World Cup since it's inaugural edition in 1991 and have reached the quarter finals of both the world Cup and the Olympics in 1999 and 2004 respectively.
The Super Falcons has dominated African Women cup of nations winning it 11 times in 12 editions and award African women national team of the year 6 times. Nigerian players have also dominated African player of the year with Mercy Akide, Perpetual Nkwocha and Assist Oshoala won it a combination of 13 times.
Nigerian Women Football League has been on since 1990 and some of the teams has made name for themselves. Teams such as Rivers Angels, FC Robo, Pelican stars, Balyesa Queens are women football brands of note. Rivers Angels represented Nigeria in the inaugural CAF women champions League in 2021.
With all these groundbreaking achievements, the women population in Nigeria haven't been bought over. They still see football as "men's game." So corporate bodies know they can't reach the women folk through women football. Neither can they reach the men folk, because they still consume women football with a pinch of salt. The lack of passion for women football in Nigeria has affected sponsorship, funding and remunerations of clubs, leagues and the women national teams.
