Rivers Angels Football Club of Port Harcourt have completed the signings of three Ghanaian players ahead of the upcoming Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) Premiership season.
Patricia Mantey (Ghana Immigration Services), Mary Essiful (Soccer Intellectuals Fc) and Gifty Acheampong (Thunder Queens FC), all agreed one-year deals with the NWFL defending Champions.
The trio are a goalkeeper, midfielder and centre forward respectively and are expected in Port Harcourt, Southern Nigeria by next week.
One of the newly signed players, Acheampong (CF) expressed her delight with joining the defending champions. 20-year old told Rivers Angels Media that signing for the Port Harcourt outfit would give her more international exposure.
“I’ve been hearing so much about this team and have seen how consistent they’ve been every season. “Their winning mentality is one of the reason I decided to join them because I equally love winning.
“I’ve equally seen most of their players get bigger deals in the European scene which is the prayer of most players plying in the domestic league and I’m certain my stay here will give me more opportunities.
“I also intend to win a title or even more while I’m here with them”, said Acheampong.
Acheampong featured at the 2016 U-17 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Jordan where she scored 2 goals and had 1 assist in four matches.
The other two players; Mantey, 28, and Essiful, 27, are senior national team players with the Black Queens of Ghana and were in the team that hosted the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2018.
Meanwhile, Matilda Onyiloha-Otuene has been promoted to the post of General Manager of Rivers Angels FC.
Onyiloha-Otuene who has been Team Manager of the Jewel of Rivers for 12yrs was elevated to this position by the state’s Ministry of Sports on Tuesday. While she served as Team Manager, she ensured the club remained at the top of their game every season and secured series of trophies with the team.
Reacting to her latest position, Onyiloha-Otuene told the team’s media that she was grateful with the promotion and promised to put in more works to take Rivers Angels to an advanced level.
“Firstly I want to thank the Commissioner of Sports, Honourable Boma Iyaye and the Permanent Secretary, Sir Honour Sirawoo for their continuous faith in me,” she began.
“I promise never to take this privilege for granted because such only happens once in a lifetime.
“My goal for this club has always been winning and it hasn’t changed as I will keep working closely with the technical crew to ensure we achieve every target,” Onyiloha-Otuene told the Rivers Angels media.
In a related development, all players and officials of Rivers Angels FC have completed their medicals as they prepare the commencement of the Nigeria Women Football League season.
The team comprising of 35 players and 13 officials (technical and backroom staff) were duly tested for Covid-19 and other health-related examination and results for the dreaded disease came out negative as they await the announcement of football activities in the country by authorities.
