Meet England Footballer Who Will Be Playing For Super Falcons

Super Falcons head coach has included the 23-year-old English-born defender Ashleigh Plumptre to the team.

Gatekeepers News that it was a dream come through for the almost caucasian defender Ashleigh Plumptre to finally join the Super Falcons on Thursday.

Plumptre who has 30 caps for England at the youth level has also dreamt of putting on the green and white of the Super Falcons.

The Leicester City player of the season, who has never stepped foot in West African country, said representing Nigeria is an opportunity that she “would happily grab with both hands.”

On Thursday, Super Falcons head coach, Randy Wladrum granted Plumptre’s wish by including her in his 26-woman list ahead of the Aisha Buhari invitational tournament, which holds in Lagos later this year.

The Super Falcons will lock horns with Ghana’s Black Queens, Cameroon’s Indomitable Lionesses, Banyana Banyana of South Africa, Morocco, and Mali in the six-nation invitational tourney.

The tournament, which is billed for September, will be her first time in Nigeria.

According to her, the country kept calling to her through her father’s heritage. She’s born to British parents, with a quarter Nigerian side, and with the influence of her paternal grandfather, who is rooted in the Nigerian culture despite years away from the country, she’s bent on heeding to the call.

She told BBC, “What representing something that really means to somebody is very important. Obviously, there’s a lot of things I can openly say that I don’t know about Nigerian culture, but I want to learn because I know that it’s in me, and it’s in my sister and in my dad.

“We can only get it from my granddad; he’s the only thing that we know in terms of Nigeria. I’ve obviously visited Nigerian relatives in America and in England.

“Seeing this little journey my sister and I have been on, and the understanding of our family heritage, not just that but watching Nigerian documentaries and learning about the past is incredible.”

Plumptre who joined Leicester City at age 8, saw the Foxes to 2020/2021 FA Women’s Championship title and was rewarded with an extension of the contract with the club.

Although her growing skill-set is garnering her attention in England, her eyes are fixed on the Super Falcons’ rich history of triumphs and talented players.

She stated how Asisat Oshoala had significantly influenced her:
“When you look around, there are several Nigerian players playing at the top level of the women’s game.

“With the Super Falcons, I have been following them and the continued progress the team is making. But one player that I remember is Asisat Oshoala.

“She was at Liverpool when I played for Notts County, then I was about 16, and the big thing was having Oshoala over at Liverpool.

“That was the big name, and then she obviously went to Arsenal. And everybody knew of her and how talented she was. For me, an English person, she was Nigerian football to me.”

She also noted that she can’t wait to hear the instrumental-heavy tune of her favourite Sunny Ade, bite into the Moi Moi that she loves so much, and file out the green colours of Super Falcon, once she touches down in Lagos for the Aisha Buhari tourney.