Women in Nigerian sports still underpaid

August 7, 2025

Nigerian women are facing off not just against top talent abroad but a domestic atmosphere of mismanagement and pay disparities — and even the risk of repression for speaking out. The country is fresh off a win at the finals of Women’s AfroBasket, their fifth-consecutive championship at the continent’s top hardwood tournament, while last month the Super Falcons clinched their 10th Women’s Africa Cup of Nations football title. The football team’s successes in particular have come in the face of pay disparities compared to their male counterparts, when they get paid at all. The women receive a training camp allowance but the bulk of their pay comes from per-match bonuses, which vary depending on the team’s results.

With local hardships aplenty, female athletes from the African country keep managing to dominate the continent yet seem forced to maintain a low profile in the national sphere, fearing pushback on unequal wages compared to men might result in being blackballed from competitions. ITG