As the eighth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is ongoing, the Nigeria national women’s football team – the Super Falcons – is keeping the Nigerian flag flying and we hope they do us proud.
The Super Falcons has been the most successful team in the history of the African women’s championship and have the accomplishment of losing only five games in the African competition in 20 years.
In the course of the Women’s World Cup which will last from 7 June to 7 July 2019, let us take a look at four the members of the Super Falcons:
Asisat Oshoala
BBC
With a searing passion for soccer that consumed her right from childhood, Asisat Oshoala has worked her way to the top, right from her school’s football pitch to China and now, the women’s World Cup.
The self-reliant sportswoman began her career in 2015 when she joined the Liverpool Ladies – a women’s football club affiliated with Liverpool Football Club – where she was dubbed ‘One of the best young players in the world’. Asisat went on to play for Arsenal Ladies, the Chinese club Dalian Quanjian FC and Spanish club, FC Barcelona Femeni.
Nicknamed “Seedorf”, after male footballer Clarence Seedorf, Oshoala did exceptionally well internationally becoming the top scorer at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and named women’s footballer of the year, Super Falcons, won the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
Onome Ebi
Qed.ng
Like many other footballers who got singled out for their sheer talent, Onome Ebi got called upon to play professional football immediately after she graduated from secondary school.
She went on to grace the Nigerian soil by playing for clubs like the Omidiran Babes and the popular Bayelsa Queens FC. In the wake of her stint with the Bayelsa Queens, she played for Swedish clubs like Piteå IF and Djurgården. She has gone on to sign in foreign teams in Sweden and also Belarus, where she won the Belarusian Premier League, the Belarusian Women’s Cup, and the Belarusian Women’s Super Cup twice.
Since Ebi joined the Super Falcons, she has partaken in five editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This makes her the first African footballers to feature in five World Cups.
Francisca Ordega
Pulse.ng
For Francisca Ordega, what started as a mere suggestion from a friend became a burning ambition and now a successful career which has led her to the stadiums of France for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
After falling in love with football back in secondary school, Francisca honed her skills tirelessly until she got the opportunity to play professionally for the Bayelsa Queens. It didn’t take long for her to move to the Rivers Angels, after which she signed with the now defunct Rossiyanka of the Russian Women’s Football Championship. Francisca recently secured a one year move to China, Shanghai, making her the third African to move to the Far East.
Desire Oparanozie
The Nation
Like many other players on this list, Desire Oparanozie started out from the esteemed Bayelsa Queens, where she partook in the Nigerian Women’s Championship. From there, she moved to the Delta Queens where she was active in for two years but had a brief stint at Düvenciler Lisesispor in the Turkish Women’s First Football League in 2011, before returning to Delta Queens.
Having a steady rise in her career, Desire soon went international, joining the Rossiyanka from the Russian Women’s Football Championship where she played four matches at the 2012–13 UEFA Women’s Champions League and scored one goal. She has also played for Bundesliga and Ataşehir Belediyespor.
The highlight of her career was when she won the Nigerian women championship in 2011 and 2012. She featured in the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments of 2011 and 2015 and played as a junior international in the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, scoring two goals.
Featured image source: QED
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