Delta boss challenges CAF to tap from UEFA’s injection of £830m into women’s football

The Director General of Delta Sports Commission, Festus Ohwojero, wants the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) to borrow a leaf from its European counterpart, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which has promised to commit one billion euros (£830m) to women’s football over the next six years to make it the most played team sport by women in Europe.

The European governing body said yesterday that it will use money from “competition revenues and UEFA investment” to distribute to national team competitions, club competitions, and national associations. UEFA added that it wants to make Europe “the home of the world’s top players” with six fully professional leagues and 5,000 fully professional players across the continent.

Ohwojero told The Guardian, yesterday, that CAF should emulate UEFA and move fast to save women football in Africa from its present state.

“If UEFA is thinking of injecting a whopping one billion euros into women’s football to make it the most played team sport by women in Europe, I think CAF should take a cue from it and improve the standard of women’s football in Africa,” Ohwojero said.

“I have been following women’s football in Africa since the maiden FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991, and I have not seen much difference in terms of supporting or promoting it.
“From Nigeria to Ghana and many other African countries, the story is the same because women’s football seems to be facing the same problems ranging from lack of infrastructure, poor wages, and underfunding.

“I agree that in Africa, we still manage to discover great talents from time to time, who against all odds, have been able to withstand their counterparts from different parts of the world. But the truth is that there is a need for CAF to take the bull by the horns by investing more in the game so that the government can take it up at the grassroots level.

“For some time now, women’s league in Nigeria has been without a sponsor. I also learnt that the women’s league in Ghana has been without a major sponsor for some years now. These are some of the issues that snowballed into protests over unpaid allowances, and bonuses by players from some African countries during the FIFA World Cup.

“I think CAF should emulate what UEFA is doing so that the standard of women’s football in Africa can at least, be closer to what is obtainable in some parts of the world,” Ohwojero stated.

UEFA Managing Director of Women’s Football, Nadine Kessler, told the BBC yesterday, that European women’s football has become a sport for the masses, attracting an ever-growing and diverse fan base, and partners that wholeheartedly contribute to its growth.

According to the report, the new six-year strategy, called “Unstoppable,” has been announced as women’s football becomes more financially powerful.

In June, analysts reported that the Women’s Super League had generated record revenue in the 2022-23 season. The 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which was won by Spain, generated revenue of £440m.

As part of the investment, UEFA plans to introduce a second women’s European club competition to sit beneath the Champions League. The competition would be a straight knockout format, with teams competing against clubs knocked out in the early rounds of the Champions League. Euro 2025, organised by UEFA, will be staged in Switzerland.