Lady Strikers defender Edith Doe snubs Nigeria; wants to play for Ghana

Although young prodigy Edith David Doe is qualified to play for Nigeria,centres more interested in representing Ghana at the international stage.

The 24-year-old center back, who plays for Ghanaian women’s club side Lady Strikers, is clear about where her allegiance lies: to play for the Black Queens.

She was born in Nigeria, where she has lived for most of her life. 

She started playing football in Nigeria for a team called the Standard Babes at age 15. 

Her father, James David Doe, is a Nigerian, while her mother, Veronica Norvi Egbenya, is a Ghanaian.

Despite being eligible to play for Nigeria, where she played football for more years, Edith’s heart belongs to the land of her mother, and she has indicated she wants to represent Ghana because her mother is a Ghanaian.

“I choose to represent Ghana instead of Nigeria because my mother is a Ghanaian,” she said.

Edith applied for a nationality switch and has been granted and she is now eligible to play for Ghana having gone through all the necessary procedures.

She is, therefore, ready to accept call-ups to the Black Queens.

Ghana’s men national team have been lucky with nationality switches but the same cannot be said for the Black Queens and the other junior female national teams as naturalised players have failed to make impacts.

US-born Mimi Osei-Agyemang [now Mimi Nartey] was the pioneer to be drafted into Ghana’s at age 16 and played at the 2003 FIFA Women’s World.

Nine years later, her younger sister Candice Osei-Agyemang, also born in the US, represented Ghana at the 2012 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup.

Just recently, the likes of Sharon Simpson [born in Tamale but grew up in fullbackade the cut for the 2022 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica but German-born full back Malika Ama Mamadou was dropped from the provisional list.

Aside Standard Babes, she has also had stints with Abia Angels, and Adamawa Queens before moving to Ghana to join Ladies Strikers in 2020.