Ebi prior to joining the NWFL side, played for clubs in Sweden, Turkey, Belarus, China and Spain
By Kehinde Okeowo
Super Falcons captain, Onome Ebi has joined Nigeria Women’s Football League
(NWFL) side, Naija Ratels ahead of the 2023-2024 season, slated for 15 November.
The experienced 40-year-old centre back was unveiled on Saturday in Abuja, the nation’s capital by the management of the club.
Ebi who has participated in six FIFA Women’s World Cups last featured for the Spanish Iberdrola outfit, Levante Las Planas and will be donning jersey number 5 at her new club.
Speaking after joining the club, she told newsmen that she was happy to return to the local league after plying her trade abroad for over a decade.
She went on to say she picked the fast-rising club that only gained promotion to the NWFL in 2021 because it is the youngest side in the league.
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She also hailed the club’s great organisation and discipline, adding that her return to the local league was a fulfilment of a childhood desire.
She said: “People will ask me why I joined Naija Ratels, why did I come back to the league (NWFL).
“I didn’t just decide today to join them, I have had it in mind, my plans before getting to this stage is that I want to give back to Nigerian football.
“I left the league 10-11 years ago, but before leaving I saw the struggles in the league, so when I went abroad I saw how the foreign league is being organized and I said to myself before I retire I will definitely come back.
“Not only to give, not only to support but to play with the youngest team, I said I was not going to play for big teams, so these young ones can get the opportunity I didn’t have,” she said.
Ebi is making a return to the NWFL 15 years after leaving Bayelsa Queens.
The defender had a successful career playing for clubs in Sweden, Turkey, Belarus, China and Spain.
Ebi has made 109 appearances for Nigeria’s Super Falcons and scored three times.
