Desire Oparanozie has slammed the Nigeria Football Federation following her exclusion from the Super Falcons squad that will feature at the Turkish Women’s Cup, which begins on Monday.
Oparanozie wrote on her Twitter handle: “Work on my game and push for consistent selection. Those ones who’s been without a club for over a year now, how many of their games did they work on over the past one year to merit their inclusion? When we’re spoilt for choice. Look for another lie.”
“Work on my game and push for consistent selection”. Those ones who’s been without club for over a year now, how many of their games did they work on over the past one year to merit their inclusion? When we’re spoilt for choice. Look for another lie. https://t.co/v9kkQmlDOf
— oparanozie desire (@oparanozie9) February 13, 2021
Oparanozie started her career at Bayelsa Queens in the Nigerian Women’s Championship and moved to Delta Queens in 2010. She then spent 2 months on loan at Düvenciler Lisesispor in the Turkish Women’s First Football League in 2011, before returning to Delta Queens.
In 2012, she joined Rossiyanka from the Russian Women’s Football Championship, with them she played four matches at the 2012–13 UEFA Women’s Champions League, scoring one goal.
Oparanozie joined Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg for the 2013–14 season signing a two-year contract. In the first half of the season, she only appeared in one game, and mostly played for Wolfsburg’s second team. In the winter, after half a season, she left Wolfsburg.[10] On 21 February 2014, Oparanozie transferred to Ataşehir Belediyespor to play the second half of the season in the Turkish Women’s First Football League.
As a junior international she scored 2 goals in the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup and 3 goals in the 2012 tournament.
Oparanozie has been a regular member of the Nigerian national team since 2010, participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments of 2011, 2015, and 2019.
In April 2019, she was named the new captain of Nigeria by coach Thomas Dennerby who praised Oparanozie for her ‘discipline and good character’.
Following the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, in her role as captain, she led calls for equal pay in Nigerian football citing disparity with the bonuses received by the team’s male counterparts.
She has also been part of the Nigerian squads of the African Women’s Championship of 2010 and 2014, 2016 and 2018, winning all four tournaments. She scored crucial goals in both the 2014 and 2016 finals.
