Falode comes hard on indebted NWFL clubs

Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) chairperson, Aisha Falode has threatened to expel from the league any club or clubs who fail to promptly pay their players’ salaries.

The nation’s women’s 2019/20 top league was prevented from kicking off its 2020 season on March 25, 2020 as scheduled due to the global outbreak of coronavirus and subsequent suspension of all organised football activities by the football authorities.

Falode, a seasoned broadcaster and executive board member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) came down hard on club owners after players of former champions, Pelican Stars, protested following ten months of unpaid salaries.

The club took their protest to the Cross River State governor’s office last month, drawing the attention of the Association of Nigerian Women in Sports (NAWIS) and other stakeholders in the industry.

NAWIS asked Governor Ben Ayade to come to the rescue of the state women flagship side.

However, Falode has now made it clear that only clubs who do not owe players their rightful entitlements will be admitted into the league.

“Our girls do not need to demonstrate, they don’t need to carry placards before you pay them their wages.

“We just want the league to resume, we have sent them reminders to pay their players up to date.

“If it is only ten clubs that can pay, if it is eight, we are going to go ahead and play with those eight clubs.

“Before the Covid-19 break, we had written to the clubs, if you don’t show us your statement of salary payment to the players up to date, you run a risk of not playing in the league this season and we meant it.

“We are going to go back to that. If you do not pay these girls for one month, up to three months, who does that? And you expect the girls to play for you and give the impression that everything is fine at the club.

“There must be some kind of institutionalised policies at this time that you cannot owe players their salaries, how much more young girls. If you do that, you’re opening them up to some kind of vices that you cannot contemplate,” Falode said in an interview on Instagram with Super Eagles Supporters Club.

The 2019/20 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership is designed on an abridged format of eight teams each of the two groups with the top two in the groups proceeding to play the Super 4 that will produce the champions while the bottom team in each group will be relegated to the NWFL Championship.