Women’s football in Africa, the first in-depth book on the subject, traces the history of women’s football from the initial ban to its growing following and broadcasting capabilities today. It is a story of triumph despite enormous obstacles – sexism, abuse, homophobia and religion among them. We asked its author, sports communication professor Chuka Onwumechili, just three questions.
Can you give us a very brief history of the African women’s game?
The first formal men’s football game similar to today’s rules was played in the 1860s in the United Kingdom. Men have been playing football in Nigeria as early as 1904. First recorded game in Africa it was in Lagos and most of the players were European colonialists. Nigerians later took up the sport.
Many countries around the world banned women from playing what was considered a man’s game. The pseudoscientific thinking was that women’s bodies didn’t match.
My interest in writing a book on African women’s football began when I discovered, during my football research, that women were playing the game in Nigeria as early as the 1930s – not the late 1900s as is commonly believed . I found it had an incredibly rich history.
Read more: Women’s football in Nigeria has a long history of infighting
In a 1937 letter to anti-colonialists West African Pilot Journal, a reader asked if it was acceptable for women to play football in Nigeria. Apparently, a growing number of Nigerian women were starting to join the game. Some played with other women and girls and others played alongside male friends. I would learn that, in the 1940s, women in Nigeria, a British colony, formed teams and played against older men in novelty matches to raise funds for the Second World War effort. Due to the scientific views of the time, a woman was limited to playing only one half of the game. In some games, the entire team would be substituted at halftime.
In South Africa, women are recorded as participating in curtain-raisers before men’s matches in the early 1960s. Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast record women’s official participation in football in the early 1970s. initiation gave these countries a competitive advantage.
Ivory Coast’s national women’s football competition started as early as 1975. The country became a base for other African women looking to play professionally. Player Gladys Adu Opoku, for example, left Ghana in 1987 to play professionally in Ivory Coast. The first truly global women’s national football tournament took place in China in 1998 and Ivory Coast represented the continent in an invitational tournament.
The first FIFA Women’s World Cup was held 1991. In the same year the first African Women’s Cup of Nations tournament was held. It was a World Cup qualifier held in locations across Africa.
Where does African women’s football stand today?
Today, girls participate in the sport in most African countries, from Botswana to Algeria, Kenya to Sierra Leone. Countries that later adopted the women’s game are fast approaching the first movers. The gap between the powerhouses – such as Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa – and the others – such as Morocco, Senegal and Zambia – has closed impressively. In Morocco in particular, an injection of state funds has accelerated progress in women’s football, with success stories at both national and club level.
In the book, I provide statistical indicators to show how fast African women’s football has grown internationally. For example, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa made it past the group stages at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. This had never been done before.
At the under-17 level, Africa has consistently seen one or more teams reach the knockout stages of the World Cup. In 2012 and 2022, Nigeria even reached the medal stage. At the Under-20 World Cup, African teams have reached the medal stage in three tournaments.
Outstanding female players over the years are finally being recognized for their contributions: such as Mercy Akide, Asisat Oshoala and Chiamaka Nnadozie (Nigeria), Rosella Ayane (Morocco), Barbra Banda (Zambia), Gladys Adu and Alberta Sackey (Ghana); Portia Modise and Desiree Ellis (South Africa) and Gaëlle Enganamouit (Cameroon).
The 2021 introduction of a championship for women’s clubs in Africa has also brought several young players to the public’s attention. The dominant clubs were Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies from South Africa and Asfar from Morocco. Nigeria’s champion clubs are yet to win the continental league.
Apart from sexism, what are the other challenges?
There is also a religious divide, with Islamic African nations adopting the women’s game later. In most Muslim countries worldwide, girls and women are restricted from playing football because sportswear exposes their legs and hair and becomes the focus of male gaze. However, the book describes how the girls always resisted the restrictions and found ways to participate.
Funding represents another problem at all levels. Some countries fund women’s national teams only for competitive matches but not for preparatory matches. This means that some teams rarely play.
Other issues include; homophobia and racism. Female players are often viewed as lesbians and discriminated against by both the public and football officials. This can have disastrous consequences. In South Africa, for example, a national team player, Eudy Simelaneshe was gang-raped and murdered by men who claimed to have “cleansed” her. lesbian.
There is still a lot of work to be done to recruit more girls and develop female coaches. It needs public education and the game needs funding to grow.
But I hope readers will see more of the obstacles facing women’s football in Africa – and understand how much African girls and women have done to overcome those obstacles.