Nigeria’s Super Falcons have kickstarted preparations for their first appearance at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in 16 years as 14 players have arrived at their camp in the city of Jerez de la Frontera outside Sevilla.
“We started training on Sunday, and the camp is calm. The players are in very high spirits as they look forward to the tournament in France,” Team Administrator Mary Oboduku told thenff.com. Team captain Rasheedat Ajibade and first-choice goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie are at the head of the squad already at the team’s Hotel Barceló Montecastillo Golf and Resort, with goalkeeper Tochukwu Oluehi, defenders Chidinma Okeke and Nicole Payne, midfielders Christy Ucheibe, Toni Payne, Deborah Abiodun and Jennifer Echegini, and forward Esther Okoronkwo also in. Alternate players, goalkeeper Morufa Ademola and forward Gift Monday are also in camp.
Defenders Osinachi Ohale and Michelle Alozie were being expected at the team’s hotel as at the time of reporting.
The nine-time African champions, who last played at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in China in 2008, will take on reigning Olympic champions Canada in a training match in Sevilla on Wednesday, 17th July.
Women’s football debuted at the Olympic Games as a demonstration sport in 1996, but the Super Falcons made their entry in 2000 in Australia, where they lost 1-3 each to China, eventual winners Norway and eventual silver medallists USA.
Nigeria’s best outing – so far – at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament was in Athens 20 years ago, where the Super Falcons finished in 6th place after exiting the tournament in the quarter-finals.