Osinachi Ohale Has Retired After Sixteen Years And Five WAFCON Titles

Sports

Lagos · Saturday 26 September 2026

Osinachi Ohale has retired from international football after sixteen years with the Super Falcons. The 33-year-old defender leaves with 86 caps, four World Cups, seven Women's Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and five WAFCON titles.

"The jersey will leave my shoulders, but it will never leave my heart," she said. "Thank you, Nigeria, for allowing me to live my dream."

womens football team huddle stadium Photograph by Jeffrey F Lin via Unsplash.

A career measured in tournaments

Record	Figure
Years with the Super Falcons	16
International appearances	86
World Cups	4
WAFCON tournaments	7
WAFCON titles	5

Five continental titles is more than most national teams in Africa have ever won.

Compare the two national teams on the same night. Moses Simon reached 100 caps for the Super Eagles in Uyo on Friday and it was celebrated as history. Ohale retires with five continental titles, which is five more than the men's team has won in the same period, and the coverage is a fraction of it. That imbalance is not new, and it is still worth stating plainly.

What she leaves behind

A Super Falcons side in transition. After a quarter-final exit at the last WAFCON, the NFF appointed Augustine Eguavoen as interim coach on 8 September for the 2028 Olympic qualifiers. Nigeria meet Comoros at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne on 9 and 13 October, and they will do it without one of the defenders who has been in the squad for most of the last two decades.

Players who win five continental titles are not replaced. The team learns to win without them, or it does not.

The part worth doing properly

Nigeria has a habit of letting its most decorated women's players leave quietly and remembering them at funerals. A testimonial match, a formal federation send-off and a place in the coaching structure would cost very little. The WAFCON titles she helped win are the federation's proudest recent achievements, and it should behave like it knows that.

Reporting: CAF, Vanguard, BellaNaija and Channels Television.

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