MOROCCO -- United States-based African players have been influential at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), and Nigeria's Michelle Alozie -- on the books of Houston Dash -- believes the quality of the talent at the tournament could lead to more NWSL teams prioritising Africans in their recruitment plans.
In recent years, African players have had an ever-increasing influence in the U.S. league, with Malawi's Temwa Chawinga leading the goalscoring charts last season, and Zambia's Barbra Banda named in the Team of the Year.
This influence has carried over to the WAFCON -- the premier continental competition for African women's players -- with 14 U.S.-based players drawn from NWSL teams and collegiate soccer.
"I love seeing fellow NWSL athletes here represented in WAFCON," Alozie told ESPN. "I think it is so important to see that African players are excelling in the NWSL, and then coming and excelling at WAFCON, just like Banda and Racheal Kundananji have shown.
"I think it's really important for people to get the eyes on African footballers, especially with a big tournament like WAFCON."
Alozie is a product of U.S. domestic soccer structures, having represented Apple Valley-based high school team Granite Hills Cougars in her home state of California before featuring for Yale Bulldogs during her time at Yale University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in molecular biology.
As a graduate, she transferred to the University of Tennessee, where she played for Tennessee Volunteers, and joined the Dash in 2021 after a brief spell in Kazakhstan with Shymkent-based BIIK Kazygurt.
NWSL teams have demonstrated they're open to spending big to sign Africa's top talent -- Kundananji's $US862,000 move from Madrid CFF to Bay FC was a world record for a woman footballer in 2024 -- and 28-year-old Alozie hopes the quality on show at WAFCON will prompt other clubs to look at the continent's talent.
"Since there's so many top players here from all around the world, but more importantly from the NWSL, I hope that more NWSL teams will look at WAFCON," she said. "[They'll] see the potential that so many African players have, and hopefully increase the signings out there."
Nigeria have called upon four U.S.-based players for the tournament, with Alozie joined by Deborah Abiodun (USL Super League's Dallas Trinity); Chioma Okafor (University of Connecticut Huskies); and veteran Asisat Oshoala, who joined Bay FC from Barcelona in February last year.
Oshoala is a legend of the women's game, and the six-time CAF African Women's Footballer of the Year who won a hat-trick of WAFCON titles with Nigeria between 2014 and 2018 is aiming to conquer the continent once again.
Oshoala, now 30, scored Nigeria's opening goal as they dispatched Tunisia 3-0 in their first Group B fixture, but she is no longer an undisputed starter for the Super Falcons although her influence in the dressing room, as one of the team's senior players, is clear.
Alozie says Oshoala's impact and achievements in the sport, with the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool and Arsenal, have paved the way for other Africans to be considered for opportunities at leading clubs.
"It's so important to have a Super Falcons team that has many dimensions, and one of those is having a lot of star players or legends like Asisat Oshoala," Alozie said.
"It's so nice to have someone of her calibre present in camp. She's done so much for African football, and so I think she is definitely one of the few people who had spearheaded the way for international football to look at African players when they definitely deserve that look.
"It's so good to have her here, just like all of the other Nigerian legends who are still here playing, and who were part of the Super Falcons over the last two World Cups or the last three or four WAFCONs.
"It's so important to have players like her in the team to just allow that veteran mentality to still be around and present."