Ahead of 2023 Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Championship kicking off on July 7, Sunshine Queens forward Mary Popoola believes the team is more formidable and ready to gain promotion to the Nigeria Women’s Football League Premiership.
After years of experience in the top-flight, the Akure based side were relegated to the second tier of the Nigerian league at the end of the 2021/2022 NWFL Premiership season, finishing bottom of Group B.
As the team seek an immediate return to the Premiership, the forward is talking up their bright chances of promotion this week.
“We have prepared ourself since last year as players and our coaches trained us immensely to build our individual performance,” Popoola told theNWFL.com.
“We did a lot of corrections now and we’re good to go. Kudos to our management for their full support. I am confident no team can come to our way now without tasting defeat.”
The former Delta Queens player shed light on reasons for the team relegation, while stressing that they are now a more formidable side.
“The team (Sunshine Queens) was relegated due to some of the players that were new to the team. All the old players are not here anymore we just met some few players.
“We had screening before we get to knew ourselves. Kudos to our head coach who tried to keep all the players for this season and thank God we are playing free flowing football whereby all our fan want to see us play.
“I am confident in my teammates. I believe in all the departments of the team. We have a lot of players to watch out for in the Championship. Our goalkeeper Lucky Andy is our number one safehand. Our defenders – Opeyori Foluke and Divine Onchekwa are sure to keep the backline tight from conceding goals.
“Our midfielders – Eretan ireti, Ajibade Suliyat and Falegan Joy are ready to provide us with penetrating passes. Up front, our attackers are sensible enough to put the ball in the back of the net.
“Myself, Ajibade Taiwo, Precious Edewor, and Fakunle Oluwaseun. We have a good caliber of players and I believe no team can give us a tough time in our quest to gain promotion.”
An immediate return to the Premiership would be the major preoccupation of the Betty Babes at the end of the 2023 NWFL Championship.
The 2015 Federation Cup winners hope to follow the footsteps of Ibom Angels which had an immediate return to the Premiership in its first promotion attempt in 2022.