The African Giant follows three players: Rasheedat Ajibade, Asisat Oshoala, and Michelle Alozie, documenting parts of their professional journeys and what it means to them to play for the Super Falcons.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
The 2024 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON), delayed as a result of scheduling issues that included clashes with the Paris 2024 Olympics, finally came to pass this July, concluding with a history-making win for Nigeria’s women’s national team, the Super Falcons. This month, in their honour, we spotlight The African Giant (2025), an aptly titled two-part documentary series that celebrates the Falcons and highlights the difficulties they face in playing for the country known as the Giant of Africa.
As it stands, the Super Falcons are the most decorated women’s football team in Africa. The WAFCON 2024 win marks their tenth win in a tournament that has been played only thirteen times. They were Africa’s first women’s national team to reach an Olympic quarterfinal. They are also the only African team and one of only seven national teams from around the world to have qualified for every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, even making it to the quarterfinals once.
But it has been a long, arduous road for the team whose victory this season has been one of very few moments of national unity in a country plagued by increasing division. Their win is even more personal for them and for Nigerians who tend to overperform individually or in small groups while battling a system that is often set up for failure.
A Togethxr production directed by Kimberly Mason, The African Giant follows three players: Rasheedat Ajibade, Asisat Oshoala, and Michelle Alozie, documenting parts of their professional journeys and what it means to them to play for the Super Falcons. While the documentary features only three of the players on the 24-woman squad, Ajibade, Oshoala, and Alozie serve as a reasonable cross-section of the national team and some of the best of Africa’s best.
Rasheedat Ajibade, the captain of the team and WAFCON 2024 Player of the Tournament, plays as a forward for both the Falcons and Atlético de Madrid Femenino. Asisat Oshoala, who is regarded as one of the best female footballers of her generation, is a six-time CAF Women’s Footballer of the Year and a striker for both the Falcons and Bay FC. Michelle Alozie, a diasporan player and cancer researcher — who made the WAFCON Team of the Tournament — plays as a defender for Nigeria and as a forward for Houston Dash.
The African Giant captures their backgrounds and the strides they’ve made, while using their experiences to establish the intercultural dynamics within the team and the unique challenges they face as women footballers in a patriarchal nation, and as footballers who play for a country with inadequate institutional support.
The first episode, titled “The Nigerian Spirit”, focuses on the women themselves, in high spirits as they head to the 2024 Olympics (the Falcons’ first appearance at the Olympics since 2008) following a well-fought but ultimately unsuccessful battle for the Women’s World Cup in 2023. True to its title, the episode is thematically centred around Nigerian cultural sensitivities as well as the often-referenced Nigerian pride and resilience.
The second part takes a more sombre tone as the footballers return from the Olympics. The episode is titled “To Whom Nothing Is Given, A Lot Is Expected”, words taken directly out of the mouth of the team’s captain. Having lost out of the tournament at the group stage, the Falcons have a lot to say about the institutional failures and incapacities, both gendered and non-gendered, that frustrate their efforts at international events.
The documentary’s brief comments on the lack of institutional investments are particularly insightful in light of Michelle Alozie’s recent revelations regarding her recruitment into the Nigerian national team, as well as the controversial announcements by the Federal Government of Nigeria that it would reward each player with a cash gift of USD100,000 and each technical team member with USD50,000, in addition to a three-bedroom apartment for each player and technical team member.
Given the content of the docuseries itself and the present surrounding contexts, The African Giant is a short and bittersweet watch. However, it is also very entertaining, held up by the football stars who are just delightful subjects to follow. Whether further episodes will be released following the team’s success at the 2024 WAFCON remains to be seen, but any such development would be very much welcome.
Runtime: 30 minutes
The African Giant is available to stream on YouTube.
Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku is a writer, film critic, TV lover, and occasional storyteller writing from Lagos. She has a master’s degree in law but spends most of her time watching, reading about and discussing films and TV shows. She’s particularly concerned about what art has to say about society’s relationship with women. Connect with her on X @Nneka_Viv