The opening match round of the 2023/2024 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership season was decided this midweek in what can be described as an eventful opening to the season.
From the colourful curtain raiser in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday to the goalfest recorded in many of the centres on Wednesday, we could not have asked for a better way to kickstart Nigeria’s top division in women’s football.
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ACLSports Chief Football Writer, Fisayo Dairo was a keen follower of the NWFL opening round and picked out five lessons from it as follows:
1. Ekiti people shocked us
I was not particularly sure of what to expect when I heard that the season’s curtain raiser will be decided in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital between reigning champions Delta Queens and newly promoted Ekiti Queens.
I’ve been a critic of states like Ekiti and Osun (my state of origin) in sporting matters so I simply did not expect any good thing to come out of the Ekiti Nazareth. Behold, I was proved wrong and going by comments across different social media platforms, I was not the only proved wrong and taken by surprise, positively.
Without any fear of a recency bias accusation, I can confidently aver that the curtain raiser was the best we’ve had in years and this was made possible in no small part by the hosting city who had fans of different generations throng into the Oluyole Kayode Stadium – from school pupils to passionate adults. It was a lovely start to a promising season.
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2. Gallant Onome Ebi walks the promise
Mama Onome as she is called on the streets earned her career breakthrough early in life and was a World Cup starter at 20. Having spent over a dozen years in Europe, she is back to the league having made a mild promise in the past few years, stating her desire to end it where it all started.
On Wednesday, Onome Ebi gleefully wore the captain’s armband for Naija Ratels in their league opener against Nasarawa Amazons in Abuja. Although the result was not what she would have hoped for – a 1-3 loss – she was able to contribute an assist to her side’s lone goal.
The former Omidiran Babes and Bayelsa Queens star has truly made good that promise and could serve as an example for others who are currently in Europe and gradually tilting towards the twilight of their careers.
3. Goalscorers hit the ground running
For a league not known with high number of goals, it was particularly refreshing for followers like me to see goals aplenty in this NWFL Premiership opening round and also seeing players scoring goals in packs.
Football is a game of goals and having them in matches brings the best out of fans and even the participants. Two of the eight matches in midweek ended goalless but the other six games produced twenty-two (22) goals with a couple of players netting braces.
The League’s topscorer last term had nine goals but after this NWFL Premiership opening round, the duo of Eunice Godwin of Edo Queens and Ayatsea Roseline Hembafan of Nasarawa Amazons have given themselves a head start in the race to the golden boot after their goals against Robo Queens and Naija Ratels respectively.
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4. Newcomers stood up to the big names
We all love the underdog stories don’t we? That’s why it was exciting to see how underdogs especially newly promoted teams fared on the opening round of the 2023/2024 season.
None of the four newly promoted sides Ekiti Queens, Sunshine Queens, Dannaz Ladies and Remo Stars Ladies lost in this NWFL Premiership opening round despite the fact that all four faced teams that played at last season’s Super Six Championship playoff.
Ekiti Queens with a couple of experienced NWFL campaigners in their fold did not particularly look out of place against the Champions Delta Queens while Sunshine Queens surprised many by holding highly revered Bayelsa Queens to a stalemate too. I was particularly impressed by the doggedness of Dannaz Ladies in their draw away to Confluence Queens while Remo Stars Ladies dug deep to hold Rivers Angels to a draw.
That, for me, is a start worthy of a competitive campaign.
5. Who wants it most?
It was a cagey NWFL opening round which underlines the competitive nature of the league. There were four draws, representing 50% of the matches played in the NWFL Premiership opening round and the race to the season ending playoffs has already begun. Question is; who wants it most?
Nasarawa Amazons were the biggest winners for me considering they won away at a decent side and that should give them some fillip for the rest of the season considering they’re in a quite favourable group on paper.
Will this be the year Edo Queens have been praying for, after years of near misses? Their statement win over FC Robo is capable of setting the tone for a leadership campaign in that group of death which has arguably three of the best teams in the land: Delta Queens, Bayelsa Queens and Rivers Angels.
In all, it was a great start to the new NWFL Premiership season as presented by the opening round and I’m sure the league body will be grateful for it. Now, let’s sustain the momentum both on and off the pitch till the end of the season.
