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According to Sports247, the head coaches of Nigeria’s three main women’s national teams—Justin Madougu, Bankole Olowokre, and Moses Aduku—must have female assistant coaches to keep their positions.
Also read: Mutiu Adboju: CAF’s decision on Senegal is not good. This comes after FIFA introduced a new rule aimed at allowing more female coaches to join women’s national teams as head coaches or assistant coaches. The rule took effect immediately. This new FIFA rule will directly affect Madougu and Aduku, as they have important matches to play this year. Olowokre’s last match is not until 2025. This new FIFA rule, announced on Thursday, will affect all women’s football. Due to the rules governing national team and club competitions, Madougu and Aduku must have at least one female assistant coach to retain their positions.
Madougu initially served as interim head coach of the Nigerian national team “Super Falcons” before securing a permanent position after leading the team to their tenth Africa Women’s Nations Cup title.
The 61-year-old coach, holding a CAF A-level coaching license, signed a two-year contract extension with the club in October 2025 following the team’s victory in the 2024 West African Nations Cup, and is expected to lead the team in this year’s competition.
Olowokre has achieved similar success as head coach of the U17 national team “Flamingos,” having led the team since 2022 and guiding them to three FIFA U17 Women’s World Cups.
Olowokre led the “Flamingos” to a historic third-place finish at the 2022 World Cup. After participating in the U17 World Cup in India, he led the team to the quarterfinals in 2024 and the round of 16 in 2025.
Aduku is the youngest of the three, having only taken over the youth team (Falcons) last year, but has already led them to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be held in Poland from September 5 to 27 this year.
This former men’s youth national team player previously coached Queen Jenagoya and Queen Edo City in the domestic league and was appointed by the Nigerian Football Federation in July 2025.
The future of these three top women’s national team coaches remains uncertain, as the Nigerian Football Federation must develop alternatives as soon as possible to adapt to FIFA’s new directives.
According to Sports247, a statement released on Thursday included the following: “FIFA will require all to comply with FIFA’s directives.” The FIFA Council has adopted a groundbreaking rule requiring all teams participating in its women’s competitions to have a female head coach or assistant coach.
“This measure will take effect at the U20 Women’s World Cup this September and will be implemented at next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil, the second Women’s Champions Cup, and the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup two years later.” Bayelsa FIFA CEO and former U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Jill Ellis pointed out that the new rule, applicable to all youth and senior national team matches as well as club competitions, also requires at least two female staff members on the coaching bench, including a mandatory head coach. “Currently, there are far too few female coaches. We need to do more to accelerate change, such as creating clearer promotion paths, expanding opportunities, and increasing the visibility of women on the sidelines.” Ellis emphasized, “FIFA’s new rule, coupled with targeted development programs, is a significant investment in current and future generations of female coaches.” Benin
