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Nigeria star Desire Oparanozie reflects on career journey after football retirement
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Former Nigeria’s senior women’s national team forward, Desire Oparanozie believed she has had some good and bad moments during her football career.
The 29-year-old announced her retirement from international and club football following months of struggle with injuries last week.
Highlights of her career saw her scoring in the finals of 2012, 2014 and the winning goal for the Super Falcons of the 2016 Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) final against hosts Cameroon.
“Well I have had a couple of best moments,” Oparanozie told Supersports.
“There are a lot of them, winning trophies, scoring at the finals, scoring the most important goals at the final, those were amazing best moments for me.
“And the worst are usually injuries, when you are on the field running and you have a muscle tear, when you are injured watching from the stands, those were my worst moments.”
Oparanozie started her national team career at the U-17 level where she featured at the 2008 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
She progressed to the next category (U-20) where she reached the final of the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup as well as a fourth-place finish at the 2012 edition of the U-20 World Cup.
With the Super Falcons, she won four Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) titles in 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2018 winning the top goalscorer prize at the 2014 edition with five goals.
The former Bayelsa and Deta Queens striker has played at four FIFA Women’s World Cups in 2011, 2015, 2019, and recently in Australia/New Zealand 2023 where the team reached the knockout stage.
