Ifeoma Onumonu, a striker for Nigeria, has spoken out about the horrible treatment she and her teammates received after being eliminated by England from the Women's World Cup.
In their matchup with the Lionesses, Nigeria held their own and dominated for significant stretches of time. After a scoreless draw, the match was decided on penalties, where England converted with ease to maintain their lead as the competition's front-runners after the USA's loss to Sweden.
The majority of the major footballing nations now pay all athletes equally, signaling a remarkable advancement in gender equality in the sport. But in an effort to bring about change, Onumonu has spoken out about how terribly the women's squad is handled by the Nigerian Football Federation.
"I’ve seen what England has access to," Onumonu said via the Guardian. "In Nigeria we don’t have access to much. Our training fields aren’t great. Where we sleep isn’t great. Sometimes we share beds."
"It’s not good enough. In terms of recovery, we don’t have much of any of that. We don’t have access to a gym in camp in Nigeria. There’s a lot that needs to be done. Hopefully more people will start to talk about it."
"Coming here it’s hard to adjust. We do what we can because we love playing for our country but hopefully they make it easier for us to do our best. [Back home] the [pitches] aren’t great. The grass is rocky, bumps everywhere. The stadium we play in for qualifying…you’d be surprised, I was surprised. You don’t even know where the ball is going to jump at you."
"Our under‑20s went far in their World Cup and when they were sent home they were sleeping in airports for 24 hours. That’s not acceptable. What we have to fight for is bigger for us."
The Women's World Cup has already featured some shock results, including victories by South Africa, Nigeria, and Jamaica over powerful opponents. Jamaica qualified for the World Cup only because of a successful crowdsourcing initiative, and South Africa was saved by a late payment from a billionaire.
Women's football is developing annually, but some of the improbable triumphs this summer have shown how far the sport still needs to go. The worldwide players' union FIFPRO announced earlier this week that it would support the players in their continuing conflict on behalf of the Nigeria Women's National Team.
"Following the Nigeria women's national team's elimination from the FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFPRO can confirm it is assisting players in a disagreement with the Nigeria Football Federation concerning bonus payments, camp allowances and expenses, some of which date back to 2021," the statement from FIFPRO reads.
"During the World Cup, the players expressed the desire to remain focused on their performance without making public statements or facing other distractions. However, the Super Falcons believe that it is now time for the Nigeria Football Federation to honour their commitments and pay the outstanding amounts.
"The team is extremely frustrated that they have had to pursue the Nigeria Football Federation for these payments before and during the tournament and may have to continue doing so afterwards. It is regrettable that players needed to challenge their own federation at such an important time in their careers."
"FIFPRO will continue to work with the players to ensure their contractual rights are honoured and the outstanding payments are settled."
