{"id":20231,"date":"2024-07-24T12:04:47","date_gmt":"2024-07-24T12:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/olympic-football-african-teams-can-do-great-things-at-paris-2024\/"},"modified":"2024-07-24T12:04:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T12:04:48","slug":"olympic-football-african-teams-can-do-great-things-at-paris-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/olympic-football-african-teams-can-do-great-things-at-paris-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic football: African teams can do &#8216;great things&#8217; at Paris 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Nearly two decades have passed since Nigeria&#8217;s women last appeared in the Olympic football tournament.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With a storied legacy in African football and a tradition of nurturing talented players, their return offers a fresh opportunity for a new generation eager to excel and make up for lost time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It could also enable some African stars to make decisive moves in their career, whether they be playing for Nigeria or Zambia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Returning for their second straight finals, the Zambian squad is spearheaded by Barbra Banda, who starred at Tokyo 2020, and Racheal Kundananji, who became the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/africa\/68282325\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">world\u2019s most expensive player<\/a> when joining Banda in the United States earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cWe have so many African players abroad who are doing well,\u201d said Nnadozie, reflecting on the progress of women\u2019s football on the continent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cWe are like a beacon of hope to those in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Yet while women\u2019s football may be progressing at a rapid pace on the continent, the recent decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/articles\/c99949d92vro\" class=\"ssrcss-k8mrr8-InlineLink e1kn3p7n0\">delay this year\u2019s Women\u2019s Africa Cup of Nations<\/a> (Wafcon) to 2025 has caused concern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Given the Covid-enforced cancellation of the 2020 edition, it means there will have been just one Wafcon, the 2022 edition, in nearly seven years by the time the 2025 finals get under way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cIt&#8217;s not right,\u201d said Oparanozie. \u201cI think it&#8217;s going to put us 10 steps behind, and it&#8217;s not good for women&#8217;s football in Africa.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cIn this present time and age, we shouldn&#8217;t be talking about postponing the Women&#8217;s Afcon. We may be growing, but the rate at which we&#8217;re growing is not rapid enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The lack of competitive international football means rivals on the continent are likely to be watching events in Paris with envy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cIt was a great thing for Nigeria to qualify for the Olympics after 16 years,\u201d said Nnadozie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cI&#8217;ve been dreaming of playing in the Olympics and not just qualifying, but making a mark to make the nation proud.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Her stage awaits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/sport\/articles\/cmm20yl0300o\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nearly two decades have passed since Nigeria&#8217;s women last appeared in the Olympic football tournament. With a storied legacy in African football and a tradition of nurturing talented players, their return offers a fresh opportunity for a new generation eager to excel and make up for lost time. It could also enable some African stars [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20231"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20233,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20231\/revisions\/20233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}