For the tournament in Morocco, the nine-time champions have an interesting mix of the old guard and new blood.
Browsing: Rita Chikwelu
The 46-year-old, who is the first woman to have won the Women Africa Cup of Nations both as a player and as coach, opined that the tournament will help the six teams to prepare ahead of their AWCON qualifiers.
The 31-year-old has joined Madrid CFF on a six-month deal after a decade in Sweden, where she scored 60 goals, with Umea IK and Kristianstad.
Super Falcons coach, Thomas Dennerby, says the team will not defend against hosts, France, in their last group A game at ongoing Women’s World Cup in France.
African champions Nigeria are set to return to the country on Wednesday after finishing third at an invitational tournament in China as part of their preparations for this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup finals in France.
Asisat Oshoala scored a hat-trick while Francisca Ordega, Desire Oparanozie and Rita Chikwelu pulled one goal each to set up a semi – final match-up against Cameroon’s Lionesses.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the team has already opened camp about two weeks ago in Abuja with home-based players for the fixture against The Gambia.
The central midfielder has spent the last six years of her career with Umea IK
Rita Chikwelu, the Umea IK Swedish Damallsvenskan player, replaced the former captain, Evelyn Nwabuoku of French club, En Avant de Guingamp, who was ruled out due to injury