Aisha Buhari Cup: Nigeria Celebrates 30 Years Of Women’s Football

Organisers of the Aisha Buhari Cup said the invitational tournament would be an annual event in celebration of the evolution and development of women’s football for the last 30 years as well as the celebration of the girl-child.

Nigeria will stage a six-nation international tournament, named after the country’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, next month in the Country’s commercial hub Lagos

This year, the crème de la crème of women sides on the continent including South Africa, Mali, Ghana, Cameroon, and Morocco will join hosts Nigeria in the soccer fiesta scheduled to hold between September 13th to 21st.

“Not many people reckoned with the fact that women’s football in Nigeria is already 30 years old,” Seyi Akinwunmi, the Local Organisation Committee (LOC) chairman said in an interview.

“But it was actually in the mix of conversation about how to celebrate this landmark that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Amaju Pinnick came up with the idea of hosting a tournament of this magnitude.”  

“We equally found out that our objectives for this tournament aligned with the set objectives with the Future Assured Programme of the First Lady which is basically the promotion of the girl-child, and we have no doubt that football is a perfect medium to promote such ideals.”

• Read more: 2021 Aisha Buhari Cup Draws Revealed

Akinwunmi, who doubles as the NFF’s 1st Vice President, said the choice of Lagos is strategic, adding that the city has a vibrant and perfect ambiance for the tournament already dubbed A-B-C (the acronym for Aisha Buhari Cup) by a section of the local media.

“The choice of Lagos as the host of the maiden edition of the Aisha Buhari Cup, is also strategic since the city already has virtually everything in place for a good tournament,” Akinwunmi added.

“Lagos has everything in place as regards accommodation, security, medical facilities and with the on-going renovations at the two stadia (Mobolaji Johnson Arena and Agege Stadium) we are confident of a hitch-free tournament.”

The draws for the competition was conducted by Director of Organisation Aisha Falode on 18 August at the pristine at the Australia Hall of the Eko Hotel & Suites in Victoria Island (Lagos). Hosts Nigeria are in  Group A along with Morocco and Mali.

Chidi Nwoke/CAF.