Equal pay not priority for women's teams in Africa - Asisat Oshoala

Equal pay not priority for women's teams in Africa - Asisat Oshoala

Nigeria's Desire Oparanozie asked for equal pay recently but her teammate believes there are other priorities for women's football in Africa

Nigeria's assistant captain Asisat Oshoala does not believe demanding for equal pay is a top priority for women's national teams in Africa.

The increasing demand for equal pay by some women's national teams with their men's counterparts is gaining huge support globally.

The USA women's team had launched a legal war against the US Soccer Federation over equal pay before winning a record fourth Women's World Cup this summer.

Nigeria's captain Desire Oparanozie also made the demand to be paid the same as men at the recent Ladies in Sports Conference in Lagos.

But Oshoala feels women's football in Africa currently have more fundamental problems to be resolved than equal pay.

"It is a good thing that this demand caught FIFA’s attention," the Barcelona striker told the Punch.

"But in Africa, we have other pressing issues to deal with in our football. We need to deal with our structures, facilities, and loads of issues before talking about equal pay.

"I prefer we rather focus on problems affecting female football in Africa first," she concluded.

Oshoala resumed training with her Spanish side on Wednesday ahead of the new Liga Iberdrola season which kicks off on September 8.

Punch