Grace Towobola is a Confederation of African Football (CAF) and Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) licenced football coach passionate about harnessing the power of sport for social change and development. She is a thought leader in football matters, an advocate for gender equity in football, and an astute sport manager. A Chevening scholar with an MSc in Sport Coaching from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Preston, United Kingdom, Towobola is a female coach committed to breaking barriers and empowering women to become football coaches in Nigeria through a dedicated leadership programme. The Oyo State-based coach spoke with MOYOSORE SALAMI on the challenges limiting girls and women in football coaching roles and how public/private support can help these women step up their game.
Grace Towobola has become a role model among many because of her impact in football, where she is breaking the glass ceilings and dismantling gender bias against women coaches. Her determination aside, Towobola, through top notch education, has equipped herself with the skills, knowledge, and techniques to make a difference in a male dominated terrain as a coach.
Petite and soft spoken, Towobola is a trained agric-economist and football coach, with CAF and UEFA certifications. She serves as an advisory board member for the Sustained Insight and Impact Initiative, a collaborative effort led by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the French Development Agency (AFD), and Paris 2024 through Sport Impact, where she contributes to identifying and funding groundbreaking sports initiatives.
As a 2022/2023 Chevening Scholar, Towobola earned her MSc in Sport Coaching from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), Preston, United Kingdom. She currently serves as the 2023–2026 IOC Young Leader for Nigeria, delivering the Women’s Football Development Initiative (WFDI) – an innovative programme designed to bridge the gender gap in coaching and leadership roles in football.
Through WFDI, she provides free football coaching education for women aged 18–35 via the Coaches Leadership Training (CLT), while also empowering young girls in secondary schools to pursue professional football careers through the ASPIRE Project. The WFDI has already trained 85 coaches and engaged 2,000 girls across 20 schools. Currently, six CLT graduates are employed within WFDI, three as instructors in the 2025 CLT cohort and three as academy coaches, while 20 female players have benefitted from the scholarship-backed training and free football gear.
Alongside leading the WFDI, Towobola is committed to improving the standards of football coaching in Oyo State in her role as Training Officer of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association – Oyo State Chapter. As Training Officer, she has launched the NFCA Oyo Education Department. She chairs a seven-man technical committee working on the NFCA Oyo DNA, which is a 10-year development plan to elevate football coaching standards in Oyo State.
Towobola began her coaching journey in 2017 as a volunteer at the University of Ilorin, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Agric Economics. In 2019, she reached the semi-finals of the World Remit Arsenal Coaching Programme, a globally recognised competition for emerging coaches.
During her National Youth Service (NYSC) in Abia State, she worked under Imama Amapakabo at Abia Warriors FC, and later served as an opposition analyst for Coach Fatai Osho at Enyimba FC, analysing ES Sétif in the 2020/2021 CAF Confederation Cup.
She, thereafter, pursued a Masters’ degree in Sport Management at the University of Ibadan and had her internship at Remo Stars Football Club. Her stay at Remo Stars was remarkable as she is remembered as the assistant coach for the U15 team during the NPFL LaLiga U15 competition where Remo emerged winners of the competition.
Her Chevening Scholarship experience broadened her exposure to elite football structures, as she worked with Preston North End Women’s Football Team; served as a Foundation Coach at Manchester United Foundation, and managed UCLan Women’s Football Team B in the 2022/23 BUCS League, including representing international students at UCLan.
She has participated in global sports leadership programmes with the City Football Group, Manchester United, Women in Football (WIF), Downtown in Business, and UCLan, among others.
Towobola’s exceptional contributions to women’s football development were recognised in 2023 when she received the Gold Award from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) through the Chevening Scholarship scheme for her outstanding voluntary efforts. She has worked in several coaching capacities with male and female football teams in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), British University and College Sports (BUCS) league, and elite English clubs.
She has a passion for harnessing the power of sport for social change and development and is dedicated to transforming female football in Nigeria and beyond.
Commenting on WFDI in Nigeria and its projects, CLT, ASPIRE, Academy, Towobola said: “A lot is going on in that realm and we need both public and private sectors’ support. The time is ripe to draw the attention of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), the Nigeria Olympic Committee, the Nigeria Women’s Football League to support the WFDI.
“We need funding and partnerships to position the WFDI and its projects as the ideal organisation for individuals, corporate organisations, institutions, and the government to partner with or sponsor.”
Explaining her journey into football coaching, Towobola revealed that her ambition to become a female coach began at age 12, though a tall dream then. But over the years, she has weathered the storm and now shows the light to others.
She admits that with the support of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Young Leaders Programme, she is breaking those barriers and empowering women to become football coaches in Nigeria through a dedicated leadership programme.
“My IOC project is called the Women’s Football Development Initiative (WFDI), with three major objectives. My number one objective is to encourage early career interest amongst girls and women to pursue professional careers in football.
“The second is to use football to help girls return to and remain in education, while the third is to harness the power of sports to foster active lifestyles among girls and women.
“What motivated me to launch this project in particular is that there are inequalities in the education sector. For instance, in the Northeast of Nigeria, only about 41 per cent of eligible women actually receive primary education. What’s the case in coaching education? You don’t find many women in that space.
“I want to create an opportunity where young women receive the resources they need to pursue professional careers in football. After the coaches’ leadership training in the classroom and on the field, female coaches are to go back to their teams and help develop female football clubs.
“That way, we help develop the female game. My role is to help female coaches build confidence to effectively deliver in their roles as football coaches.
“Female participation in football is a big issue. We don’t see enough women doing it. In my state, we have about 500 male coaches, but just seven females. And there are many issues around gender-based violence and abuse, so parents are reluctant to let their daughters play football. But a programme like WFDI is addressing that problem.”
Towobola founded the WFDI in 2023 with the support of the IOC Young Leaders Programme, which provides funding and guidance in helping it achieve its three key objectives.
The WFDI, she said, is working towards these goals through a coach leadership training programme, a series of outreach visits to schools, and ongoing career support for female football coaches.
Explaining WFDI activities, she said: “We encourage early football career interest among females through our ASPIRE project; we help girls return to and remain in education through our WFDI Academy; and we help develop more female football coaches in Nigeria through our Coaches Leadership Training (CLT).
“With ASPIRE, we visit secondary schools to create awareness of professional careers in the football industry and distribute our brochure, which details the various careers in football and how students can get into them. We train females between the ages of 18 and 35 to become football coaches through our free Coaches Leadership Training, with course contents delivered through a hybrid model over five months coupled with a three-month internship period.”
She credits her mother as the inspiration behind her drive.
“I took a lot of energy from my mum. My mum studied Physical Education (PE) and taught PE in schools. I remember walking the streets one day and finding a newspaper on the ground. I picked it up and I read about how Sir Alex Ferguson was very pivotal to helping Christian Ronaldo win the Ballon d’Or. That instance, I knew I wanted to become a football coach.”
Towobola’s efforts are already yielding results. One of the WFDI volunteers, Oluwafunmilayo Abodunrin, told The Guardian: “The programme has encouraged females from different areas of the world to come together to participate in football and do sports in general. The positive impact of Towobola’s project as a volunteer is that it has provided great exposure for me.”
On how the project has helped him, Sodiq Nurudeen said it has been impactful, while expressing optimism that girls being trained would have the right skills set and education to become what they want to be in football.
Towobola might have graced the international stage hobnobbing with the high and mighty, but she is firmly focused on her vision and mission.
“I am ambitious. I look forward to a day when a woman will coach the Super Eagles. And that is what I live for, to empower women coaches to get there. It’s going to take a while to get there, but I am willing to give it what it takes,” she stated.
