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First Africa Women’s Cup of Nations winning coach Ismaila Mabo dies aged 80
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Former coach of the Nigeria senior women’s national team and winner of inaugural Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 1999, Ismaila Mabo has passed away aged 80.
Legendary manager and former international died in the early hours of Monday morning following a long battle with a protracted illness.
During his active days, the former footballer starred for the Mighty Jets of Jos at its peak in the 1960s and 1970s.
Ismaila was the head coach of the Super Falcons at the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup, 2000 Summer Olympics, and 2004 Summer Olympics, guiding the country to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, the team’s best-ever result.
Under his watch, the Super Falcons were a strong force in Africa and put up its best performance at the USA 1994 FIFA Women’s World Cup, with Brazil’s Sisi’s golden goal denying the African powerhouse a place in the semi-final.
Mabo’s side had to come from 3-0 down to take the entertaining game to extra time where Brazil prevailed on golden goal.
Despite losing to powerhouses, USA, Norway, and China at Sydney 2000 Olympics, Mabo led Nigeria to the quarter-final of the Athens 2004 Olympics after a 1-0 win over Japan and a 2-1 loss to Sweden.
Super Falcons bowed out of the 2004 Olympics with a 2-1 loss to Germany another glittering achievement by Mabo as the coach of the senior women’s national team of Nigeria.
Mabo is arguably the most successful coach as far as Super Falcons is concerned with his performances at the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Olympics, a feat yet to be equalled by any Nigerian coach.
