The Big Interview: Toni Payne

The USA-born star switched allegiances to Nigeria two years ago and in the summer represented the country at the World Cup. She speaks about her tournament experience, life in Seville and more...

Nigeria’s Toni Payne in action against co-hosts Australia during the summer’s World Cup.

“All of us dreamed of playing at a World Cup, but actually getting there still feels like a dream,” says Toni Payne.

It’s almost three months out from the summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but the reality of being there herself, on the pitch for Nigeria, clearly doesn’t quite still feel like reality for 28-year-old Payne.

Perhaps it’s because of her journey to get there. As she speaks from Seville - where she has called home since 2018 - it’s a long way from her actual home, and indeed even her second home.

That’s because Payne was born in Birmingham, Alabama, across the pond to Nigerian parents, which allowed her to represent the nation at the tournament after switching allegiances in 2021.

Payne’s performances in the Nigeria midfield put her on the map for many less familiar with her game, while the team’s performance in getting out of a group which included co-hosts Australia and Olympic champions Canada, as well as being a penalty shootout away from eliminating European champions and eventual finalists England, brought the players to the attention of a wider audience.

“We always tell ourselves and I’m always thinking in my head ‘wow, if we had the same amount of resources, an African team could easily win the World Cup’…”

Now, for the first time, she has the chance to really reflect on both the achievements of the Super Falcons, as well her own personal milestone of playing at a World Cup.

“I think Australia was a perfect place to have it,” says Payne. “You could see how invested the fans were in the Matildas, and to be part of that group was huge and made our experience even better.

“Our first game against Canada we were really nervous and obviously our preparations…you can’t really compare to the European teams or teams in North or South America. I’m sure we didn’t look prepared, but we were able to get a result.

“The second game, to be able to win against Australia was huge and to do it in Australia itself was cool. The fans were great, they congratulated us despite us beating them. The game against England still breaks my heart a little bit when I think about it because I think we played a really amazing match, we just got unlucky with the penalties.”

She adds, “So, yeah, what I can say when I reflect on it is it sucks to not have gone as far as we wanted to, but what I really love is we made it interesting and competitive.

“In past World Cups, in a run like that people would have said ‘England would win 3-0’ or ‘Australia would beat them 2-0’. we didn’t make it easy. I’m really proud of the African teams, three of us made it out of the groups and that’s massive.”

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Indeed, while Nigeria has been a familiar sight at World Cups and Olympics across the years, this was a breakout tournament for several other African nations.

Of the four who qualified, only Zambia failed to make it past the group stage. South Africa, in their second World Cup, beat Italy to reach the second round, while Morocco recovered from a 6-0 defeat to Germany to win their remaining games and knockout the two-time world champions in their first World Cup.

“We always tell ourselves and I’m always thinking in my head ‘wow, if we had the same amount of resources, an African team could easily win the World Cup’,” says Payne. “They have the talent there, it’s all the other aspects that are lacking, but little by little we’re hoping things improve and not regress. It’s just a matter of keeping positive, a lot of it is positivity and us as players trying to make as much change as we can.”