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Rinsola Babajide, a former Liverpool player, stated that she switched her national representation from England to Nigeria because she has always aspired to compete in the Women’s African Cup of Nations and has Nigerian heritage.

Born in London, Babajide was a member of the Young Lionesses team that secured a bronze medal at the 2018 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.

Additionally, she represented England at the U18, U19, and U23 levels. She had already earned caps with those teams before FIFA permitted her to switch associations.

Before the Roma forward played her first senior match for the Super Falcons in an Olympic qualifier against Ethiopia in October 2023, she was invited to join two training sessions with the Lionesses.

For several years, the Nigeria Football Federation has monitored Babajide’s growth, but her agent first recommended that she remain in England, believing she had a strong chance of breaking into the senior team.

Nigerians began to take notice of Babajide in 2016 due to her scoring fourteen goals for the University of East London women’s football team.

During that season, her squad achieved a significant victory over University College London, winning 40-0.

Babajide told the 49th Street, “When I finally decided to move abroad because of what happened when I left Liverpool, Nigeria reached out to me, and it felt like an obvious choice.

“It gave me the chance to not only represent Nigeria, which is a big honour, but also to get closer to my culture and myself,” said Babajide.

She participated in the Nigerian squad that triumphed in the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. In the course of the tournament, she netted her first international goal in a group-stage game versus Tunisia and conveyed a touching tribute to the late Liverpool player Diogo Jota.

“I’m Nigerian. It was a huge accomplishment and Mission X was very successful, but it’s still the best part of my career so far.

“The proudest moment of my career so far was definitely lifting the WAFCON trophy in my very first major tournament. That has to be the best one,” Babajide added.

Now that Babajide has secured a medal from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, she aims to represent the Super Falcons in both the Olympic Games and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

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