Nnadozie: My father used to say girls don’t play football

Chiamaka Nnadozie, Super Falcons goalkeeper, says her father never supported her love for football in her younger days.

The FC Paris goalkeeper spoke in a chat with CNN on Friday.

Nnadozie grew up in Owerri, the capital of Imo, and made her debut for the Falcons at 18.

A year later, at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, she became the youngest goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet at the global competition.

Recanting her journey to becoming a professional footballer, Nnadozie said her father used to tell her that “girls don’t play football.”

She added that early support to pursue a football career “was not very good” from her family.

“It wasn’t very good from my family. They never let me play, especially my dad,” the Falcons goalkeeper said.

“Whenever I went to play soccer, he would always tell me: ‘Girls don’t play football. Look at me. I played football, I didn’t make it. Your brother he played, he didn’t make. Your cousin played, he didn’t make it. So why do you want to choose this? Why don’t you want to go to school or maybe do some other things?'”

Nnadozie was one of the stand-out performers for the Falcons at the 2023 Women’s World Cup hosted by New Zealand and Australia. Her penalty save earned Nigeria a draw against Canada in the first game, which proved pivotal as the Falcons secured four more points to qualify for the second round.

She has also been outstanding for FC Paris this season. The 22-year-old stopped two penalties to help the club defeat Arsenal in a shootout in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) second qualifying round.

On Wednesday, Nnadozie saved another penalty as Paris defeated Wolfsburg 5-3 on aggregate to qualify for the group stage of the UWCL.