Rugby World Cup Qualifier: Nigeria Invites Australia, New Zealand-born Players

Nigeria Rugby League has extended an invitation to players of Nigerian heritage based in Australia and New Zealand who may be interested in joining the national women’s team for the World Cup qualifiers next year.

The body stated this in a release on Friday, which partly read, “We are starting our preparations now and are inviting expressions of interest from female players aged 17 and older to join our pathways program, which will make them eligible for selection to represent Nigeria in this competition.”

Nigeria recently secured victory in the World Cup qualifier for the Africa and Middle East region and are set to advance to the World Series, which is scheduled to take place in the latter half of 2025.

To this end, the Nigeria Rugby League has developed a pathways programme for players in the Southern Hemisphere in collaboration with the assistant coach based in Sydney, Australia.

To be eligible to represent Nigeria, players must meet at least one of the following criteria: Born in Nigeria or hold a Nigerian passport, have Nigerian citizen parents, have Nigerian citizen grandparents, or have lived in Nigeria for more than five years.