Ex-Falcons Captain Dede claims football brought her fame

An ex-captain of the Super Falcons, Precious Dede, says football brought her fame and everything else she had achieved in life.

The former Falcons goalkeeper made the assertion when she appeared at the launch of a girls’ football and mentoring programme titled: “Goal! Strong Girls, Bright Future”, alongside two former players of the U.S. female national team.

Dede, who noted that she started playing football at age 8, even though her parents were against it, said that she had to quit the university for football when she lost both her parents.

The ex-international, however, said through the sport, she was able to see her other siblings through university education even though she was the second to the last child in a family of seven. She said that in all, hard work, discipline and humility were the keys to her success in the sport that brought her fame and all that she had achieved in life.

According to her, at age eight, she started playing street football with boys and her parents didn’t like it, they wanted her to be educated.

“They tried to discourage me by saying that I will look and act like boys if I continued with it. All they wanted was for me to go to school. However, at age 19, I had to quit university when I lost both of them. I channelled my energy into the game where I made money to train my other siblings even though I was the second to the last child,” she said.

She urged the girls who were selected from different schools in Benin to put in all their being in sports if they had flair for it.