Women’s World Cup 2023: Fifpro helping Nigeria’s women in bonus row

The Super Falcons are Africa’s most successful international women’s side, having won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) nine times and also qualified for all nine Women’s World Cups.

Yet this is far from the first time they have found themselves at loggerheads with their federation over money, with disputes dating back to 2004.

More recently, at the 2019 World Cup in France, they staged a sit-in protest following a second-round defeat to Germany, while players boycotted training before the nation’s third-place play-off at last year’s Wafcon in Morocco.

At the time, a special adviser to then-minister of sports Sunday Dare said the “issues are being resolved” and verbal assurances were given to the squad.

But a month later, BBC Sport Africa was told players were still waiting.

Before this World Cup, American coach Randy Waldrum claimed he was owed seven months’ salary and some of his players had not been paid for two years.

Fifpro said it was “extremely frustrating” the issue had continued before, during and after the tournament, adding that it was “regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers.”