Super Falcons forward Desire Oparanozie announced her retirement from professional football, both on the international and club levels, on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old revealed the news via a post on her social media handle, thanking her family, friends, and fans for their ‘love and support’ over her successful career.
The post read: “To my fans, family, and friends, thank you for the show of love and support over the years.”
“It’s time to take a bow, as I believe there’s no better time than now. I’m officially announcing my retirement from professional football for both club and country.
“To every team and coach, I have played for, to every mate I’ve played alongside, and to every opponent I have played against, thank you all for being part of this incredible journey.
“Thank you, football, thank you Nigeria.”
Oparanozie, who retires with over a hundred professional goals to her name, has enjoyed a very successful international career, which began with her appearance at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2010, where Nigeria finished as runners-up to Germany. In the 2012 edition of the tournament, she helped the Falconets to a fourth-place finish.
The pacey forward also got her senior national team call-up in 2010 and was made captain of the Falcons in 2019 by Swedish manager Thomas Dennerby. As captain, Oparanozie led the charge for equal pay for both the women’s and men’s teams.
She has represented Nigeria at four FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments in 2011, 2015, 2019, and most recently the 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand.
…To every team and coach I have played for, to every mate I've played alongside, and to every opponent I have played against, thank you all for being part of this incredible journey. Thank you football, thank you Nigeria.
Desire Ugochi Oparanozie ✍????.— oparanozie desire (@oparanozie9) September 13, 2023
On the continent, she represented the nine-time African champions at four Women’s Africa Cup of Nation tournaments (2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018), winning all four and scoring in back-to-back finals in 2014 and 2016, along with winning the Golden Boot in the former.
At club level, Oparanozie began her career at Bayelsa Queens and has played for eight other teams since then, including Delta Queens, Wolfsburg, Guingamp, and Wuhan Jianghan University in China, where she last plied her trade and won the 2022 Chinese women’s Super League title.
