The Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament is scheduled to hold in Lagos in September with Ghana, Cameroun, Mali, South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria already signed up and confirmed for the competition.
Following discussion between the organizers and concerned parties, World football power, Argentina, and Romania are likely to participate in the Aisha Buhari Women Football tournament.
NFF president Amaju Pinnick has stated they are already trying to lure Romania and Argentina to sign up for the championship
The match is set to strengthen the Super Falcons squad and had some Africa countries that have signed up for the female event.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, on Tuesday, revealed that talks were on with Argentine and Romanian officials on the possibility of both countries featuring in the competition, which is one of the programmes the FIFA Council member plans to deploy in his bid to make Lagos Africa’s number football city.
“Argentina and Nigeria have a cordial football rivalry, which has seen both countries in many international contests in recent times.” Amaju opened up.
Amaju wants to replicate, the rivalry between both teams at the female level.
The super Falcon were the most successful black nation in world women football winning almost every edition of the Women Nations cup.
The NFF president believes the inclusion of Argentina and Romania would expand the scope of the tournament, which is Nigeria’s direct gain from his recent election into the FIFA Council.
Pinnick recently met with Argentina’s ambassador to Nigeria, Alejandro Herrero, where they looked at ways of strengthening footballing ties between Nigeria and the South American country.
Pinnick said the Aisha Buhari tournament is in line with his mission to build a sustainable football culture for Nigeria, which would lead to a robust soccer industry that could contribute significantly to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
“We believe that participating in the First Lady of Nigeria Invitational Tournament will further strengthen the ties between Nigeria and Argentina.”
Also speaking on the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament, NFF board member, Aisha Falode, said the organisers carefully selected the countries already listed for the competition based on their pedigree in women football.
She added: “Cameroun and Ghana are some of the strongest footballing nations in Africa. Cameroun played in the final of the African Women Nations Cup against Nigeria in 2016, while Mali played in the bronze medal match at the 2018 edition in Ghana.
“South Africa came second in the 2018 competition, which Nigeria won, while Morocco is one of the strongest women nation teams in North Africa. The Moroccans will host the 2022 African Women Nations Cup.”
Apart from football, Falode said the organisers would explore the possibility of deepening the socio-cultural ties among the participating nations.