Super Falcons captain Rasheedat Ajibade has shared details about her childhood, revealing that she began playing football at the age of six or seven on the streets of Mushin, Lagos.
The 25-year-old made the disclosure during an interview on Leadership Podcast with Stephen Akintayo.
Ajibade said growing up in Mushin exposed her to violence and cult clashes.
“At the age of six or seven, I started playing football on the street of Mushin in Lagos,” she said.
“It was an environment where Hausa and Igbo were fighting. When they start this riot, it’s like they’re burning somebody in front of you. It’s like they’re shooting, you’re hearing the bullets on top of your roof. You have young boys and girls at the age of 14 already into cults, doing incisions on their heads, they’re into drugs, a 14-year-old girl getting pregnant, becoming a mother at a very tender age.”
Rasheedat Ajibade began her professional career with FC Robo in the Nigeria Women’s Football League before moving to Norway in 2018 to sign with Avaldsnes IL.
In January 2021, she joined Atlético Madrid on a two-and-a-half-year deal, later extending her stay with the Spanish club.
She has represented Nigeria at different levels, captaining the U-17 and U-20 women’s national teams before breaking into the senior squad.
She was part of the Super Falcons team that reached the round of 16 at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Ajibade captained the Super Falcons to their 10th 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title in Morocco and was named Woman of the Tournament.
