Former Liverpool star Rinsola Babajide said she switched her international allegiance from England to Nigeria because she had always dreamed of playing in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and has Nigerian heritage.
Babajide was born in London and was part of the Young Lionesses team that won bronze at the 2018 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.
She also played for England at the U18, U19, and U23 levels. Before FIFA allowed her to switch associations, she had earned caps with those teams.
The Roma forward was invited to join two Lionesses training sessions before she played her first senior match for the Super Falcons in an Olympic qualifier against Ethiopia in October 2023.
The Nigeria Football Federation has been keeping an eye on Babajide’s development for many years, but her agent first suggested she stay in England, thinking she had a good chance of making it into the senior team.
In 2016, Nigerians started to pay attention to Babajide because she scored fourteen goals for the University of East London women’s football team.
That season, her team had a big win against University College London with a score of 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 was part of the Nigeria team that won the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. During the tournament, she scored her first international goal in a group-stage match against Tunisia and shared a heartfelt message in memory of 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.
Babajide now has a medal from the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in her collection, and she wants to play for the Super Falcons in both the Olympic Games and the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
