Some stakeholders on Friday expressed concerns over Nigeria’s drop to 38th position on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women's World football ranking.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) the decline was a result of failure to participate regularly in international friendly games as well as a lack of the right preparation for tournaments.

Nigeria dropped eight places from 29th position to 38th on ranking on September 25.

The Nigeria women's team had the biggest drop in ranking, while the U.S., maintained its top placing on the table.

Nnenna Etim, a former Super Falcons’ coach said that senior National female team did not have many organised friendly games within the period under review.

“They did not have many competitions too, to put them in top shape to keep pace with other countries. The team was supposed to have had more top rated friendly games to support their upward movement in ranking.

“We also need to inject new blood into all the departments of our female football; not only in the Falcons but also in the other junior teams. If this has been done, we could have been good to go.”

Paul Hamilton, a former Falcons' coach blamed the drop in that National team’s ranking to frequent changes in the headship of the women's team.

“We all should be worried about women's football; it is a wakeup call to the authorities, you must be up and doing to avoid further plunge.

“It is a brand new crew overseeing the team today and tomorrow it is another; they need to have stable management team. They also need more friendly matches.”

Lawrence Ndaks, the Head of Football Department at National Institute for Sports (NiSports) said: “I don't really see the performance of the female teams as poor they barely maintained their level of exposure.

“If we want them to attain higher level, then we need to provide higher level exposure. We need to raise their level of training and support it with top quality friendly games.”

Somto Anaekwe, a banker and football lover said more attention needed to be paid to raising the technical and tactical preparation of the female football in the country

“The women's football does not enjoy good attention from the authorities; It is only men’s football that gets all the attention, even when the women appear perform better than the men.” (NAN)

•Photo shows Falcons

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