‘Uncovering more of my heritage’ – Ashleigh Plumptre on choosing Nigeria over England

Leicester City defender, Ashleigh Plumptre, has revealed why she switched her international allegiance to Nigeria despite representing England at youth levels.

Plumptre has represented England at U15, U17, U19, and U23 levels including at two tournaments: the 2014 and 2015 UEFA Women’s U17 Championships.

The defender received her first call-up for an eight-day training camp held in Austria in July 2021 where she made her unofficial debut in a 1–0 friendly win over Slovenian 1. SŽNL club Olimpija Ljubljana before her official appearance in a 2-0 win over Ivory Coast in 2022 Women’s Afcon qualifiers in February 2022.

And the 25-year-old opened up up on her choice of Nigeria, stressing her desire to uncover more about her heritage.

“For me, I always say that I have to play football for more than just playing it. The same way that I chose to join Leicester because of my hometown’s club,” Plumptre told Optus Sports.

“With Nigeria, I wanted to uncover more of my heritage that I hadn’t delved into before because my dad is half-Nigerian and half-English. My grandad was born in Lagos.

“But I been brought up very British, so, I want to join the Nigerian team where I got to experience food like this, experience more of the culture, I guess.”