Ramat Abdulkareem earns late Super Falcon call-up, After some Players withdraw from the Turkish Women's Cup

Ramat Abdulkareem has been handed her maiden Nigeria call-up ahead of the Turkish Women's Cup in Alanya.

On Saturday, Goal had earlier exclusively reported that four players - all foreign-based - have withdrawn from the 23-player roster released by the Nigeria Football Federation on Thursday.

Among those four, are two midfielders - SL Benfica's Christy Ucheibe and Eskilstuna United's Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene, who pulled out for varying reasons.

With the setback, head coach Randy Waldrum, who is racing against time to secure replacements, has now turned to the Adana Idmanyurduspor midfielder, after her exploits in the Turkish league.

Abdulkareem, who was born in Okene but raised in Kaduna, had previously earned call-ups for 2014 U17 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica and later the 2016 U20 Women's World Cup in Papua New Guinea.

However, the 21-year-old, who previously starred for Nasarawa Amazons, Abia Angels, Adamawa Queens and Confluence Queens, did not make the final cut to either Costa Rica or Papua New Guinea.

She impressed in her midfield role for Adana, scoring twice in all competitions last season and was handed a one-year contract extension last August.

If she features for the Super Falcons at the tournament, she will become the latest Kogi-born female footballer to represent the country at senior level after Rachael Ayegba and Gift Otuwe.

The Super Falcons are scheduled to open camp in Alanya on Monday and will face CSKA Moscow at the Gold City Stadium on February 18 before taking on Uzbekistan and Equatorial Guinea later.

Despite regrouping for the first since October 2019, the African champions will aim to become the first side from the continent to win the international women's competition.