Barcelona Femeni forward, Asisat Oshoala, has been stripped of her captaincy of the Nigerian senior women’s national team, Super Falcons.
The decision was reportedly necessitated by the former Arsenal Ladies forward’s performance at the Aisha Buhari Cup with the captaincy believed to be affecting her form on the pitch.
A senior official of the NFF, according to SportNewsAfrica revealed that the decision on Oshoala wasn’t taken in bad faith but in order to help the attacker rediscover her form with the Super Falcons.
“We have no issue whatsoever with Asisat (Oshoala) but thoughts of stripping her of the armband came after Aisha Buhari Cup last September,” the senior official was quoted as saying.
“This is not for anything negative but for troubling concerns of seeing her struggle in national team colours. We and the coach (Waldrum) observed the captaincy is weighing her down and affecting her play. With or without it, we believe she is a true professional player and should not struggle to prove otherwise by delivering on the pitch.”
Oshoala was named Super Falcons captain in September 2019 by Chris Danjuma after captain of the team at the time, Desire Oparanozie was stripped off her armband following a contention with the NFF.
Super Falcons veteran Onome Ebi is reported to be the new captain and she’ll be assisted by Francesca Ordega.
Ebi, 38, is the most experienced player in the team and is a veteran of five World Cups.
She previously held the band in the past and captained the Super Falcons to their last AWCON success.
