Sporting sunglasses, Asisat Oshoala celebrated Barcelona's UEFA Champions League victory with his teammates in early June, but Nigeria was always on his mind. Standing on the balcony of the historic Placa de Sant Jaume in the city's Gothic Quarter, in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans, Oshoala was handed a microphone. Suffering from a hip injury, Oshoala was unable to take part in Barcelona's 3-2 win over Wolfsburg which secured their second Champions League trophy. However, she will return to competition later this month at the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Nigeria is the only African nation to have participated in the tournament since its inception in 1991, but the Super Falcons have yet to make it past the fourth round. If that will change, a lot will depend on Oshoala's five-year African Women's Championship. Oshoala went against his parents in his youth, choosing to drop out of school and focus on football full-time.
It paid off big. In 2014, the president of the country, Goodluck Jonathan made him a member of the Order of Niger, a title he proudly wears in his name on his social media. In her youth, she was signed by Liverpool in 2015 and became the first African to play in the English Women's Super League. Barcelona loaned him to Dalian in 2019 and after eight goals in 11 games, a permanent change appeared quickly. Oshoala became the first African woman to win the title in August 2022 and was the first to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or. At Barcelona, she won three league titles and two women's championships. Now he is looking to follow up with World Cup glory. Oshoala has a foundation back in Nigeria that helps girls play soccer, after the struggles he had at first and after convincing his parents to support his dream. Success in Australia and New Zealand will be another way for Oshoala to lead by example.
"Visca Barca and Visca Nigeria," the 28-year-old forward said, swapping in her homeland for "Catalunya", as the refrain usually goes. "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." "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."
In 2016 Oshoala signed for Arsenal after they paid her release clause of an undisclosed amount. Oshoala won the FA Cup at Wembley with the Gunners that year but then moved to Chinese team Dalian Quanjian. She admitted she was paid more than 10 times as much as she earned at Arsenal, but also said she felt she could rebuild her confidence there, describing the move to China as a "blessing".
