Nigeria international Onome Ebi has sent encouraging words to youngsters across the continent, especially in her home country, and urged them to pursue their football dreams.
Ebi played in all of Nigeria’s games at the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup and is now the only African to have played in five World Cups, featuring in the 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 editions.
The veteran, who started out at Omidiran Babes in Nigeria, also won the African Women’s Cup of Nations four times in six outings and has made 81 appearances for the West Africans.
On her rise to the top, the Henan Huishang star, who turned 37 on May 8, revealed that she developed her football passion from the cradle while reflecting on her career journey to stardom.
“I started playing football from my mom’s womb-like I do tell people,” Ebi said in a video interview with Caf.
“When I was little, I find myself kicking almost anything I can see on the street like oranges, stones, and all that. When there is male competition in my street, they always include me.
“We have so many challenges as female footballers because it is not that easy. The one that really and almost stopped me from playing happened to be my parents.
“They want me to stop playing football and focus on my education because they thought that it is affecting my education. They want me to be something else and not a Footballer. I made them understand that this is what I love doing and I can’t stop it.
“There are times when they will ask me to stop training and I will fall sick on the hospital bed. Then my dad thought it wise that there is nothing they can do to stop me.
“The last time that I was supposed to be admitted for two days, I was admitted for four days and that got him concerned about what I wanted to do being a footballer.
“After school, they just allowed me to play football when the coach of a team I was playing for approached them to let me play. That was how he let me play.”
She featured in Turkey for Duvenciler Lisesispor and Atasehir Belediyespor, where she won the Turkish Women’s First Football League twice and later won the Women’s Premier League, Cup, and Super Cup during her three-year stint with Minsk.
The 2018 Nigerian Women’s Player of the Year is happy to have the opportunity to represent Nigeria since 2003 and urges young girls not to give up on their dreams.
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