Former Super Eagles striker Victor Ikpeba has hailed the achievements of Nigeria’s Senior Women National Team, the Super Falcons, while advocating for further development of the women’s game in the country.

Such is the dominance of the Falcons in Africa that they have won 9 of the 11 Africa Women Cup of Nations.

However, their supremacy on the continent has not been replicated on the global stage, with a solitary quarter-final placement in 1999, their best outing at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The 1997 African Footballer of the Year believes Women football has ‘come of age’ in the country and, as such, needs to get to the ‘next level,’ where it can compete favourably and win laurels at the global stage.

“I think Women’s football (in Nigeria) has come of age, it needs to get to the next level, especially back home.” the former Monaco striker said on Channels TV. “We are all looking forward to the day when the (Super) Falcons will get to the finals of the Olympics, the finals of the World Cup.

“But so far, they’ve done well. I think we should be proud of women football so far. But we still need to develop our female football back home.

“Should we shy away from that? I think that is where we have to get it right because our girls are really passionate about female football.”

The Falcons have attended every edition of the World Cup since its inception in 1991 in China, reaching the last 8 in 1999 and most recently, the second round at the last event in France a year ago.

The Nigeria Football Federation recently appointed American Randy Waldrum as the new Head Coach of the Super Falcons to replace Swede Thomas Dennerby who left the post last year.