For years, Nigeria’s dominance in women’s football has been obvious in its production of world-class senior players that emerged from a grassroots system.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on 10 December 2025 formally launched the FIFA Talent Development Scheme (TDS) for Girls at the Noble Hall Leadership Academy in Abuja, marking a significant step in advancing grassroots female football development across the country.
NFF President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, described the programme as a crucial pathway for discovering and nurturing young female footballers: “This scheme is dedicated to uncovering talents among both boys and girls. Nigeria has consistently led women’s football in Africa for the past twenty-five years, a fact validated by recent CAF Award recognitions.”
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“I assure you that we will enlist experts to train and develop your skills, with the hope that some of you may represent Nigeria at the national level and perhaps emulate icons like Asisat Oshoala and Rasheedat Ajibade,” he added.
Sporting Tribune outlines how grassroots academies are shaping future of women’s football in Nigeria
Oshoala, Ajibade giving back
Asisat Oshoala started her career with Nigerian clubs, Rivers Angels and FC Robo Queens, rising from Lagos to play for Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona and Bay FC and eventually becoming the first African player to score in three consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cups.
Rasheedat Ajibade’s talent, on the other hand, caught the attention of local coaches early; she joined FC Robo Queens and became the current captain of Nigeria’s Super Falcons.
Both players are now actively reinvesting in the system that made them.
Oshoala founded the Asisat Oshoala Academy in Lagos in 2022, offering football training and life skills education to selected girls between the ages of 12 and 18.
Ajibade, meanwhile, spent an entire year collecting football boots from teammates, including international stars like Ludmila Silva, Hedvig Lindahl and Virginia Torrecilla, to donate to young girls in her Mushin community.
One of the most significant recent developments in Nigerian women’s football has been the formalisation of the competitive pyramid.
The NWFL Nationwide Division exists as the entry point into the formal Nigerian women’s football structure, sitting below the Nigeria Women’s Football League Premier Division and the Championship tier.
Rivers Angels, one of Nigeria’s most decorated women’s clubs, came through the lower levels of the women’s football pyramid and are now one of the dominant forces in the NWFL Premier Division, demonstrating the value of a functioning promotion and relegation system.
Private academies are also filling the structural gap. The 88W Soccer Academy in Lagos recently held an open screening for female players.
NWFL initiative to improve women’s football
The NWFL board, under the leadership of Nkechi Obi, has launched the Women Football Rising initiative, with supporting campaigns including Sisterhood, He4She, Football and the Girl Child, and Class to Pitch.
The introduction of the initiative reflects the NWFL’s commitment to educating and empowering young women, enabling them to enhance their lives through sports.
This dual-track approach, developing players and the professionals who develop them, is precisely what Nigeria’s academies have historically lacked. A technically talented girl, identified at 13, is only served by a system with qualified coaches to develop her at 14, 15, and 16. The investment in coach education is therefore as important as any pitch or boot sponsorship.
The NFF Executive Committee has also issued new guidelines for football academies to boost youth development, directing the Secretariat to secure strong and competitive friendly matches for the Super Falcons during FIFA windows.
The committee explicitly linked the women’s senior team agenda to the grassroots investment philosophy, which positions the ten-time African champions as both aspirational models and the product of a pipeline that must be continuously fed.
