Nigeria’s hegemonic decades-long dominance over Africa’s women’s football scene has long masked a dark secret: Openly homosexual players are not allowed.

The Super Falcons are Africa’s most prosperous national team, but this discriminatory attitude has cast a shadow over their success and led to the ostracisation of talented footballers over the years.

In 2014, the Nigerian parliament passed a bill into law prohibiting same-sex unions and making them punishable by as much as 14 years in prison.

While homosexuality was already illegal before that, sports insiders say the edict was a backdrop for a concerted campaign against queer people in football.