The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has debunked reports circulating on social media claiming that Super Falcons defender Ashley Plumptre expressed dissatisfaction over her exclusion from Nigeria’s squad for the upcoming Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), describing the claims as entirely false.
The false claim broke out after a Facebook post, allegedly attributed to Plumptre, claimed the defender had expressed frustration over her purported exclusion from Nigeria’s squad for the 2026 WAFCON tournament in Morocco, scheduled to take place from 25 July to 16 August.
In a statement issued, NFF’s Director of Competitions, Ruth David, described the report as entirely false and condemned the spread of misinformation and renewed its call on journalists, media organisations and members of the public to verify information before sharing or publishing it.
She said: “This is totally false. Last year, Ashley Plumptre made a video in which she categorically said that she is NOT on Facebook; that some fellows are impersonating her and that she has tried several times to bring down the page without success. Nothing has changed about her absence from Facebook; the player is not on Facebook, and nobody should believe anything that emanates from the cloned account.
“The other issue is that the Coach has not submitted any list of players for the Women AFCON, so the scamster got it all wrong. The same scamster was at work some weeks ago stating that Esther Okoronkwo (a Super Falcons’ striker) made the same claims, when in fact the player was not invited for the Senegal friendly matches simply because she was nursing an injury.
“We recall that some time ago, there was a report that Asisat Oshoala (a Super Falcons’ striker) said she had retired from international football, which was patently false.
“We appeal to well-meaning individuals to double-check whatever news item they see anywhere before escalating the same to other spaces. The incidence of fake news has become overwhelming, and it is important that media owners and media workers consistently verify what they push out there for the sake of their own integrity and credibility.”
Ashley Plumptre herself shut down the false statement, saying: “Awful false accounts. I’ve posted on my IG and X for people to report. They are using my identity and scamming people. I’m currently contacting someone in Saudi (Arabia) to help me take these accounts down because this has been happening for well over a year now.”
