Asisat Oshoala, wearing sunglasses, celebrated Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League victory with her colleagues in early June, but Nigeria was already on her mind.
Oshoala was handed the microphone while standing on the balcony of the old palace at Placa de Sant Jaume in the city’s Gothic district, in front of thousands of ecstatic supporters.
“Visca Barca and Visca Nigeria,” the 28-year-old forward said, swapping in her homeland for “Catalunya”, as the refrain usually goes.
With a hamstring injury, Oshoala was unable to participate in Barcelona’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Wolfsburg, which gave them their second Champions League title.
She will, however, be back in action later this month in the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Nigeria is the only African country to have competed in every edition of the tournament since its inception in 1991, although the Super Falcons have never advanced past the quarterfinals.
If that is to change, a lot will rest on Oshoala, the five-time African women’s player of the year.
“When you have Oshoala, you have a chance against any team,” said Nigeria’s American coach Randy Waldrum, whose side must first negotiate a difficult group featuring Australia, Olympic gold medallists Canada and the Republic of Ireland.
“She puts a lot of pressure on herself because she loves Nigeria and she wants Nigeria to be successful on the world stage.”
As a child, Oshoala defied her parents by dropping out of school and focusing solely on football.
It was a huge success.
She was appointed a Member of the Order of the Niger by the country’s then-president, Goodluck Jonathan, in 2014, a status she proudly displays in her name on her social media profiles.
Liverpool signed her in 2015, when she was barely out of her adolescence, and she became the first African player in the English Women’s Super League.
“We beat a number of top American and European clubs to Asisat’s signature,” said Liverpool coach Matt Beard.
“Asisat is one of the best young players in the world.”
Oshoala joined Arsenal in 2016 after the club met her unspecified release clause.
Oshoala won the FA Cup with Arsenal that year, although he later joined the Chinese club Dalian Quanjian.
She confirmed that she was paid more than ten times as much as she was at Arsenal, but she also stated that she thought she could regain her confidence in China, calling the transfer a “blessing.”
In 2019, Barcelona loaned her from Dalian, and after eight goals in 11 games, a permanent move was shortly made.
Oshoala became the first African woman to win the Spanish top flight’s leading goalscorer trophy, and she was also the first to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or in August 2022.
She has three league titles and two women’s Champions Leagues with Barcelona. She now hopes to follow that up with World Cup triumph.
After struggling to get her parents to accept her desire when she was younger, Oshoala established a charity in Nigeria to encourage young girls to play football.
Oshoala’s success in Australia and New Zealand would be another method for him to set a good example.
