Rinsola Babajide was on the path to a senior England cap. She chose Nigeria instead. The Roma winger has no regrets — and a WAFCON winner’s medal to prove she made the right call.
A Choice That Defined Her Career
Rinsola Babajide was born in London, raised in England’s football system, and was close enough to the senior Lionesses setup to attend two training sessions with the first team. She could have stayed that course. Instead, she made a phone call that changed everything, and she’s been telling anyone who’ll listen that it was the best decision of her football life.
The AS Roma winger, speaking to the 49th Street podcast, explained for the first time in full detail why she switched international allegiance from England to Nigeria. The answer is simple. It was always Nigeria. The football just needed to catch up with what she already felt in her heart.
— Rinsola Babajide, speaking to the 49th Street podcast
There’s a line in there worth sitting with. “To get closer to my culture and myself.” This wasn’t purely a football calculation. For Babajide, pulling on the green and white wasn’t just a career decision. It was a personal reckoning with identity. That’s a dimension of the dual-nationality conversation in Nigerian football that rarely gets spoken about honestly, and she spoke about it without hesitation.
The England Years
Babajide’s England career was no footnote. She represented the Young Lionesses at U18, U19, and U23 level, and was part of the England squad that won bronze at the 2018 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup. That’s a serious pedigree. Her agent at the time thought she had a genuine shot at the senior England squad and advised her to stay on that path.
She even made it as far as two Lionesses first-team training sessions. But a cap never came. And when she left Liverpool, things changed. Nigeria had been monitoring her for years through the NFF’s scouting network, and when the moment came, they moved. She didn’t need much convincing.
FIFA cleared her to switch associations, and in October 2023, she played her first senior match for the Super Falcons, an Olympic qualifier against Ethiopia. From that moment, she never looked back.
- Born: London, England, 1998
- Former club: Liverpool FC Women
- Current club: AS Roma Women (Serie A Femminile)
- England youth career: U18, U19, U23 — including 2018 U20 Women’s World Cup bronze
- Super Falcons debut: October 2023 vs Ethiopia (Olympic qualifier)
- WAFCON 2024: Winner with Nigeria — scored vs Tunisia in the group stage
- Serie A Femminile debut 2025/26: Scored on her league debut vs Parma
- Previous season (Spain): 10 goals, 5 assists
WAFCON Glory: The Proudest Moment
Ask Babajide what’s been the highlight of her career, and she doesn’t hesitate. It’s not the England U20 bronze. It’s not scoring on her Serie A debut for Roma. It’s lifting the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations trophy with the Super Falcons.
— Rinsola Babajide
During WAFCON 2024, Babajide scored her first international goal in the group stage against Tunisia, contributing to a Super Falcons team that carried that momentum all the way to the title. She also made headlines during the tournament for sharing a heartfelt public tribute to the late Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, a sign of the ties she still carries from her time at Anfield.
The fact that her proudest professional memory comes from African football, not European club football, not England youth football, says something profound. Not just about Babajide, but about what WAFCON means to Nigerian women footballers when they get the chance to compete on that stage.
The Liverpool Chapter and What Came After
Babajide’s connection to Liverpool is well known, but the circumstances of her departure from Anfield are what she credits with reshaping her trajectory entirely. “Because of what happened when I left Liverpool,” she said. She didn’t elaborate publicly, and it wouldn’t be right to speculate. What’s clear is that the departure was a turning point, and it was Nigeria who reached out and offered her a new direction at exactly the right moment.
She has since carved out an impressive European club career. Before joining Roma, she spent time in Spain, where she produced 10 goals and 5 assists in a single season — numbers that earned her the Serie A Femminile move in the summer of 2025. Her debut for Roma was immediate proof she belonged: she scored with a header against Parma in October 2025 in just her first league appearance for the club.
Babajide has also spoken openly about facing ethnicity-based barriers earlier in her career, including a club that refused to sign her because her name wasn’t considered “marketable.” She mentioned it without anger, more as context for why the Nigeria chapter felt so liberating. When you’ve had to fight that kind of prejudice, playing for a nation that wants you, values you, and celebrates you hits differently.
The Bigger Picture for Nigerian Women’s Football
Babajide’s story sits within a broader, vital conversation about the Super Falcons’ talent pipeline. Nigeria has consistently benefited from dual-nationality players choosing the green and white over European flags, from Asisat Oshoala’s dominance to a new generation that includes Babajide, Chiamaka Nnadozie, and others who carry the flag with pride.
The question isn’t whether these players should represent Nigeria. They clearly want to, and they’ve contributed enormously. The real question is whether the NFF, the NWFL, and Nigerian football’s institutions are investing enough in homegrown talent so that the Falcons don’t have to rely solely on the diaspora pipeline. Babajide chose Nigeria. But Nigeria also needs to create the conditions that make that choice feel even more obviously right, for every girl who grows up loving football in Lagos, Ibadan, and Port Harcourt.
As tracked by FootballInNigeria.com.ng, Babajide’s ambitions don’t stop at WAFCON. She has made clear she wants to represent Nigeria at the Olympic Games and the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Given her form at Roma and the Super Falcons’ current trajectory, both targets feel entirely achievable.
Analysis: Nigeria’s Dual-Nationality Advantage — and Its Limits
Babajide’s switch from England to Nigeria is part of a pattern that has consistently strengthened the Super Falcons. Players born or raised in Europe with Nigerian heritage, choosing the green and white, give Nigeria access to talent developed in world-class academies and competitive European football environments. The WAFCON 2024 win was partly built on this foundation.
But there’s a ceiling. If the domestic women’s game isn’t strong enough to develop its own stars, Nigeria becomes dependent on the diaspora pipeline — and that pipeline can dry up. England, Spain, and other nations are becoming increasingly competitive in women’s football and increasingly attractive to dual-nationality players. The NFF’s long-term job isn’t just to recruit Babajides. It’s to create the conditions for the next Babajide to emerge without ever leaving Nigeria in the first place.
For now, though, the win is straightforward. A world-class winger who scored on her Serie A debut, who won WAFCON gold and cried lifting the trophy, chose Nigeria. Nigerian football fans should celebrate that, and celebrate her.
What’s Next
Babajide continues her Serie A Femminile campaign with Roma, where her pace and direct running make her one of the most dangerous wide players in Italian women’s football this season. For the Super Falcons, the next major targets are Olympic qualification and, further down the line, the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
She’s 27 years old. She’s at her peak. And she’s wearing green and white. Nigeria football fans following Babajide’s journey at club and international level can explore the Bet9ja YOHAIG promotion, which offers up to ₦100,000 on first deposit for fans keen to back Super Falcons players performing across Europe’s top women’s leagues.
📌 Did You Know?
- Rinsola Babajide’s full name is Omorinsola Omowunmi Ajike Babajide. She was awarded the Order of the Niger (OON) by the Nigerian government following the Super Falcons’ WAFCON 2024 triumph.
- She scored 14 goals for the University of East London women’s team in 2016, including a match where her side beat University College London 40-0 — the performance that first put Nigerian football scouts on alert.
- Babajide attended two senior England Lionesses training sessions before making her Super Falcons debut, making her one of the few players to have trained with both England’s senior women’s team and gone on to represent Nigeria at full international level.
- Her first senior Super Falcons cap came in October 2023, meaning she’s accumulated WAFCON gold and a Serie A move all within a span of just over two years of switching allegiance — one of the fastest rises in recent Super Falcons history.
- AS Roma Women compete in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, meaning Babajide is now playing at the highest level of both domestic and continental women’s club football in Europe — a significant step up from her Liverpool days.
- During WAFCON 2024, Babajide publicly paid tribute to the late Liverpool forward Diogo Jota, who died in a road accident in July 2025, showing the enduring connection she maintains with her former club even after switching international allegiance.
- MK Dons captain Favour Omenazu became the latest England-eligible Nigerian to choose the Super Eagles just days before this article was published, on 26 February 2026, showing that Babajide’s story is part of an ongoing pattern of dual-nationality players picking Nigeria.
