Opinion: NFF, It is time to support Coach Waldrum’s project

It is sad enough that Nigeria last participated in the Olympic women’s football event 16 years ago, yet poor preparations, injuries, and interference from Nigeria’s highest football body, NFF, marred the Super Falcons’ outing at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

As much as Nigerians and fans of the Super Falcons were disappointed by the performance of the 18-player squad under American coach Randy Waldrum, it is imperative to look inward ahead of other challenges.

Following the outing, Coach Randy Waldrum blamed the Super Falcons’ performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics on poor preparations, which saw the team losing all three group games to finish last with zero points despite preparation in the shortest time.

Admittedly, the Nigerian Super Falcons were drawn into a tough group with women’s football reigning champions Spain and powerhouses Japan and Brazil, but that shouldn’t have defined what eventually became the team’s outing.

It is instructive to note that the same Super Falcons, under the tutelage of Waldrum, qualified for the Olympics in flying colors, participated in the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand, and held their heads high at the round of 16, before qualifying for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations set to begin in July 2025.

Waldrum took the job in 2021 when Nigeria was ranked 45th and successfully began building the team to a perfect fit. It will go on record that after the Super Falcons failed to qualify for the Women’s Football Olympics, Waldrum broke the jinx, beating Cameroon and South Africa to clinch the ticket.

It is no exaggeration to say that Waldrum has a project of turning the Super Falcons into a world-class team that fans and Nigerians will be proud of in the next two years. It’s a process and a gradual one. Upon his contract in 2021, Waldrum first evaluated the team and retired the older players.

He went on to attract young and effective players to create a squad of enviable ballers, hence the success he achieved at the last Women’s World Cup and in the qualifiers for the Olympics and WAFCON.

Therefore, it was no surprise when the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) decided to renew his two-year contract in late 2023.

However, one wonders what suddenly went wrong when the same NFF began to breathe down Waldrum’s neck to influence some of his technical decisions, which might have been responsible for our outing at the Paris Olympic Women’s Football.

According to reports, there were allegations that some NFF top officials tried imposing players on the American coach, including veteran forward Francisca Ordega, who had an underwhelming performance at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Then we begin to wonder what is the motive of the NFF, who have given the man a job but still want to help him do the same job by influencing his decisions.

For a man who has begun a project to turn the Super Falcons around, create unbeatable confidence, and gain the trust of his players, it will be difficult to influence his choice of game-changers.

A pointer to Waldrum’s success with the team is the contracts that some of the Falcons’ stars are beginning to attract—Toni Payne signed for Everton, and Jennifer Echegini signed for PSG, among others.

Again, without defending Waldrum, though the Super Falcons’ outing at the Paris Olympics has been perceived as ‘poor’ by many, a study of the matches showed that the team could have done much better and held the champions and powerhouses to a standstill if not for many factors, including injuries to two key players, Ashleigh Plumptre and Halimatu Ayinde.

If Ayinde had made the team, Deborah Abiodun and Christy Ucheibe wouldn’t have started three matches in the space of 6 days, while Ashleigh Plumptre’s major influence as the pivot of the defense wouldn’t have been missing in action.

My submission is that the NFF should allow Waldrum to complete his project and deliver a world-class team for Nigeria. If the NFF puts total structural support behind Waldrum, with the confidence he has built in the players and how they idolize him, the next two years will be a rollercoaster, as it will be almost impossible to beat the Falcons.

Hence, it’s time to support Coach Waldrum and let the Falcons soar again. He should be given an extension up until the next WAFCON with a mandate to win it. Win it, and a further extension will be on the line; anything less, and it will most definitely be goodbye.