Historic CATS-Girls Survey Highlights Oluchi & Akusobi

The former women’s stars Tochi Oluchi and Blessing Akusobi have been cited in a newly published, ground-breaking survey of the CATS Ladies  a move hailed as historic by organisers.

The survey, described as the first of its kind for Nigeria’s grassroots women’s football, aims to recognise and document the contributions of past and present women players to the CATS setup. Oluchi and Akusobi  both former national-level players  feature prominently among those honoured.

Organisers say the project intends to provide comprehensive records that acknowledge pioneering women in the sport, with a view to preserving their legacy and inspiring younger generations.

Editorial

There is a peculiar and often painful fragility to memory in sport, especially when it concerns those who played when the spotlight was dimmer. That is precisely why the survey honouring Tochi Oluchi and Blessing Akusobi is so important not just as a gesture of recognition, but as a reclaiming of history.

For decades, women’s football in Nigeria has thrived on grit and passion, often in the absence of robust record-keeping or institutional support. Many names that once inspired girls to dream have since drifted into obscurity victims of neglect rather than insignificance. The CATS survey, in that light, becomes more than a list it is a public register of respect.

Oluchi and Akusobi were not superstars in a foreign league, but trailblazers at home, women who challenged stereotypes, who pulled on kits when facilities were scarce, who played for pride when professional reward was minimal. Recognising them now is not sentimental, but ethical. It sends the message that women’s football history all of it matters.

This initiative should serve as a clarion call to clubs, federations, journalists and fans alike document before more names vanish into silence. Because every player who picked up a ball at CATS or elsewhere deserves to be remembered. And for young girls watching today, that record may light the path they follow.

In a sport that often celebrates the immediate  goals, wins, transfers such retrospection anchors football in humanity. It reminds us that legacy is built not only on trophies, but on those who dared to play when doing so felt like defiance. And perhaps, in decades to come, their names will carry weight precisely because someone chose to remember.

Did You Know?

1. CATS Ladies emerged recently as champions of the inaugural “Girls Play Sports” (GPS) tournament a nation-wide grassroots women’s football competition designed to uplift young female players.
2. Blessing Akusobi represented Nigeria at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2006 before a serious ligament injury cut her career short.
3. The grassroots origins of women’s club football in Nigeria date back to the late 1980s, when a wave of semi-professional female clubs began to emerge after formal recognition by football authorities.
4. Players cited in the survey serve as a bridge between early pioneers of women’s football in Nigeria and today’s rising generation  offering a rare documented lineage in the often under-reported women’s game.
5. The survey’s publication may encourage other clubs and organizations to compile similar archives potentially forming the backbone of a national database of women players, their achievements and contributions, long overdue in Nigerian football.