Transfer
Official: Onome Ebi makes NWFL Premiership return with Naija Ratels signing
By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde
Nigeria defender, Onome Ebi has joined Nigeria Women’s Football League (NWFL) Premiership side, Naija Ratels FC for the upcoming 2022/2023 season.
The development means the veteran defender will make a return to the Nigerian league after 15 years she left the domestic sense in 2008.
Following her exit from Spanish Liga F side, Levante Las Planas last November, the former FK Minsk player is joining the Abuja-based top flight league outfit as a free agent ahead of the 2023/2024 NWFL Premiership campaign which will kick off on November 15.
After her epic unveiling at the Transcoop Hilton, Hotel, Abuja on Saturday, she wrote on her instragram page: “My joining Naija Ratels is beyond playing football.
“It’s about inspiring young upcoming female players from the grassroots to think and believe that if they can dare like I did, they can make history like I did in a climate where women have to do twice as much work to achieve success.
“I strongly think my story won’t be complete if I don’t accomplish the goal of giving back to the Nigerian league, which nurtured me to stardom.”
She played for Bayelsa Queens FC in the Nigerian Women’s Championship before moving to Piteå IF and Djurgårdens IF in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan.
She then played for Turkish sides Düvenciler Lisesispor and Ataşehir Belediyespor in the First League. Ebi returned to the Swedish Damallsvenskan in 2013 to play for Sunnanå SK before going to Belarus to play for FC Minsk.
Ebi also played for the Chinese side, Henan Jianye before returning to FK Minsk from where she joined Levante Las Planas.
The 40-year-old defender is the only player (men or women) to feature at six World Cups.
