By Oyediji Oluwseun Babatunde
Former head coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s national team, Randy Waldrum has been nominated for the 2023 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Coach of the Year.
The American tactician led the Super Falcons to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand ward off pre-tournament criticisms and a sour relationship with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to get the nod for the 2023 CAF Awards.
Waldrum guided the Super Falcons to the Round of 16 of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup from a group in which the team was the least ranked according to pre-tournament FIFA rankings.
After a 0-0 draw with Olympic champions, Canada, the nine-time African champions stunned co-host, Australia 3-2 and played out a 0-0 draw with the Republic of Ireland in the last group match.
The team narrowly lost the Round of 16 match on penalties to European champions, England after a 0-0 draw in regulation time.
The superb run and result of the team at this year’s World Cup earned the University of Pittsburgh coach the nomination berth for the 2023 CAF Women’s Coach of the Year.
He will contest for the award with highly rated coaches on the continent including the coach of reigning African champions, South Africa’s Desires Ellis.
Nana Joe Adarkwa (Ampem Darkoa, Ghana), Lovemore Fazili (Malawi), Mohamed Amine Alioua (ASFAR FC, Morocco), Mehdi El Qaichouri (SC Casablanca, Morocco), Reynald Pedros (Morocco), M. Moussa Cisse (Senegal), Jerry Tshabalala (Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies, South Africa), and Esther Chamruma (JKT Queens, Tanzania) are the other coaches nominated for the women’s coach of the year.
