An exciting new era has begun for sports and women’s football in Nigeria with the launch of Asiwaju United FC by Friends of Asiwaju, an initiative mobilising support and resources for the Tinubu-Shettima campaign.

The new club has been set up to develop girls’ and women’s football at all levels across Nigeria, from increasing participation at the grassroots level to supporting teams at the national level.

Speaking during and interview, Henry Balogun, Founder/Convener, Friends of Asiwaju, said, “Through our survey, we found that young girls and women in communities across Nigeria are not able to play football as they would love to”

With few women football clubs and limitation in available facilities, we could be missing out on the next amazing women players because of the non-promotion of women football.”

The new all-women’s football club has already created a buzz in communities across Lagos.

He said: “There has been a lot of young women who are signing up, so there’s a huge demand for it.

“We’re extremely excited especially that there is a demand to join the club. It is great to see so many young women aspiring to play football in Nigeria. Asiwaju Tinubu believes in the potential of women and supports the development of women sports as a major catalyst for uniting women in Nigeria and we are committed to supporting his quest for promoting women football.

We recognise the fact that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is a nationalist and bridge-builder who has fought assiduously over the years to ensure the continuity of peace and unity across country, over and above ethnicity, faith and politics. He further stated that as patriotic Nigerians, we must stop pushing an agenda and a narrative that seeks to divide us but rather, an agenda that’s will unite us as a people, a country and a nation.

We know the power of sports in both bringing people together and on wellbeing. We are delighted to be helping to shape the ambitious aspirations for girls and women in sports, enabling them to access and engage in football and really improving the uptake of girls’ football.

“I feel this will be great for our country going forward as we believe that given the opportunity our women will continue to excel.”

In addition, Friends of Asiwaju also launched the Asiwaju Junior Grassroots Football initiative which will also be a voice for promoting junior football in communities across Nigeria.

Working with other Tinubu-Shettima support initiatives, the initiative will include 37 sub-teams from each state across the country and FCT who will all participate in a football competition to vie for the Asiwaju Cup.

There has been tremendous thrill, jubilation and excitement amongst youth about the grassroots football initiative with many hoping they will be selected to participate.