President of Ratels Sports Development Foundation (RSDF), Barrister Paul Edeh has praised the level of football artistry at the 2021 Flying Officers Cup (Women’s football pre season tournament) in Abuja.
“So far, I have seen excellent football at its peak and that shows that women football in Nigeria has come of age. Before now, women football has been relegated to second fiddle but I think that with what is happening in the Flying Officers Cup, it shows that the NWFL had really done well to chun out this calibre of teams that are participating. It also shows that there are no second place or pushovers because with the perfomance that we have seen, the teams that you would have taught that will wallop 10-0 are holding the bigger teams to ransome. I think we have done well and will continue to do everything to improve on what we have.” He told tobexmedia.com.
The legal luminary further spoke on the take aways from the tournament in terms of officiating, teams, Local Organising Committee, and award presentations.
He said: “One of the few take homes is the type of officiating we have gotten so far and the match commissioners. They have done creditably well. At least human errors here and there, the officiating have been really great. In addition to that, the venue that we are also using now have added value especially the pitch and drawing rooms to ensure that more matches hold here. This year too, we improved on the membership of Local Organising Committee (LOC) looking at where we have lacked. We beefed that up then with the award categories as well which is part of the tournament, we have also been able to get it right from that perspective. This time around, everyone who is awarded is well deserving of such award. Having a team from Ghana grace this event is very unprecedented.”
Super Falcons of Nigeria will travel to Ghana this weekend for the return leg of 2022 AWCON Qualifiers.
Barrister Paul Edeh is optimistic that the African Champions will scale the Ghanaian hurdle.
“I know that the Super Falcons are the best in Africa and competing favorably in the world. I have not doubt about their capacity to be able to surmount this big brick wall. The Ghanaian teams are good but I think that what will span out is the fact that our girls with a whole lot of determination will be able to cross that hurdle. I see Super Falcons winning this match not because I am a Nigerian but because the calibre of players that have been invited are coming with determination and not just determination but coming on the back of losing out of the Aisha Buhari Cup. They will want to correct their mistakes to be able to make our nations proud again.” He concluded.
