Women's football in Nigeria started in 1978 with the foundation of the NIFFOA (Nigeria Female Football Organising Association), renamed NIFFPA (Nigeria Female Football Proprietors Associations) in 1979, and joined by clubs like Jegede Babes, Ufuoma Babes, Larry Angels, Kakanfo Babes and others. The first championship was organised by the NFA in 1990. Ufuoma Babes were dominant in the 1990s, before succumbing to Pelican Stars, who won the league between 1997 and 2002. By the 2010s, Rivers Angels became more frequent in the super tournaments, a mini-tournament held annually among the top-placed teams, to determine the overall winner of the league. Despite the high frequency of the abridged format over the years, the 2014 league season saw a straight round-robin season in determining the league winners. However, by 2015, there was a reintroduction of the group system. Since 2015, the league has enjoyed considerable success and improvement under the auspices of
Aisha Falode, and have produced several players for the
national team and cadet teams, with more than 70% of players who have been capped for the national team having played in the NWFL. Since 2021, the league winners qualifies for the
CAF Women's Champions League. In the
2024 season,
Edo Queens became the newest champions with their debut league win. ==Renaming==