Rachel Iliya bids to reach rugby league's Women's Word Cup with Nigeria

Rachel Iliya only took up rugby league last year, but she and her Nigeria team-mates are just two victories away from reaching the sport's biggest stage for the first time.

The Green Falcons are preparing for this month's World Series in Canada, where the overall winners will reach the 2026 Women's World Cup finals.

Most players representing the West African nation are amateurs, and Iliya is one of the team's stars.

The decision to play the sport has been life-changing for the 23-year-old who used to work part-time as a cleaner, earning a monthly salary of 15,000 naira ($10.05, £7.50), in order to support her parents and younger sibling who all have sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder.

"Rugby means everything to me. It gives me this sense of belonging," Iliya, who is now a personal trainer, told BBC Sport Africa.

"It has shaped me into this strong and resilient woman that I would want other generations to emulate."

Iliya's route into sport was not straightforward because her mother was initially resistant to her chosen path.

"My first sport was football. I would sneak out of the house to play," Iliya explained.

"My mum [said] 'She's a girl, she should be in the kitchen, not going to play around boys'. It wasn't helping me grow as an athlete."

Yet Iliya persisted and eventually took up flag football, before being introduced to rugby by Abiodun Olawale-Cole, the chairman of the Nigeria Rugby League Association (NRLA).

She soon earned a call-up to the national team and made an immediate impact, scoring two tries on her debut against Kenya in 2026 World Cup qualifying in September last year.

For Olawale-Cole, that performance encapsulated her potential.

"Her fitness level, mental strength, physical prowess, speed and power are the key things I saw in her," he told BBC Sport Africa.

Her job as a personal trainer has helped to build those physical attributes over the past eight years, allowing Iliya to establish herself as an international.

"I wake up [at] 3am to meet up with my first client. Essentially I work from 5am until 8pm," Iliya explained.

"It's been challenging. The drive at the gym gives me the strength, confidence and agility to fuel my passion on the field."

Playing as a loose forward, Iliya helped inspire Nigeria to a 22-14 win over Kenya in the first leg of their Middle East-Africa Rugby League Women's World Cup qualifying tie in Nairobi.

The Green Falcons lost the second leg 8-0 - leaving the aggregate score level at 22-22 - and with both teams equal on four tries, they progressed to the World Series on goals kicked. Kenya only kicked two goals to Nigeria's three - with their additional drop-goal not included in the tally under tournament rules.

Nigeria will take on Ireland in the semi-finals on 21 October, with the winners facing either hosts Canada or Fiji five days later for a place at next year's World Cup in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

Should Nigeria qualify then they would make history as the first African nation ever to reach a Women's World Cup.

"If we qualify for the World Cup it's not just going to be good for Nigeria [but] for Africa," NRLA vice chairman Ade Adebisi told BBC Sport Africa.

"It will be an incredible thing being the first to qualify."

The Green Falcons have to deal with a lack of investment and rarely get the chance to play top-class opponents.

However, the squad will hold a three-week training camp in Lagos and entertain local rivals Ghana three times before heading to the World Series.

"It's going to be very tough, but we are willing to go there and showcase our strength as Africans and Nigerians," Iliya said.

"The global stage is what we're after."

Iliya, meanwhile, has the chance to hone her skills after joining Bradford Bulls on a six-month training programme.

A partnership between the English club and the NRLA was launched in 2023 to share expertise and support the growth of the game in Nigeria, helping to discover and nurture local talent.

"It's a time for me to show the world that we Nigerians, and Africans at large, have good athletes," Iliya said.

"We have so much talent that needs to be discovered."

The 13-player code certainly has plenty of room for growth in Africa, with just 11 nations on the continent affiliated to International Rugby League (IRL), the sport's world governing body.

Of that number, only six have women's sides and Nigeria and Kenya were the only ones to enter qualifying for the 2026 Women's World Cup.

Later this year the IRL board will select an African country as a "priority nation for investment", and the organisation is keen to boost participation.

"The game is really young and the growth is impressive in a small group of countries," IRL secretary general Danny Kazandjian told BBC Sport Africa.

"Through their hard work, a group of industrious national federations have made the IRL board sit up and take notice of the massive potential on the [African] continent."

The level of ambition is so high that Kenya has submitted a bid to host the 2028 Women's World Cup, while South Africa withdrew from the running for that tournament to focus on staging the 2030 men's finals instead.

"We have moved to the next phase of selection [and] we hope to bring the game to Africa," said Quicks Nyakwaka, chairman of the Kenya Rugby League Federation.

Meanwhile, in November, South Africa's men take on the Cook Islands for a spot at the 2026 World Cup.

Should results go their way, Nigeria and South Africa could both have the chance to represent Africa next year and show the rest of the world the potential which the continent holds.

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