Asisat Oshoala Is BBC’s Women’s Footballer of the Year

Nigerian and Liverpool football forward Asisat Oshoala (pictured) has been named the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year, reports the BBC.

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Last year was career-defining for 20-year-old Oshoala: she was named best player and was the second-top goalscorer for Nigeria’s Super Falcons in the African Women’s Championships.

Her performance undoubtedly facilitated the Super Falcons qualifying for the World Cup that will be held in Canada starting June 6th.

Of her team’s performance and upcoming World Cup showing, Oshoala, whose position was formally midfielder, said, “It’s a really good thing for us as a team because we now know that we have something great and now we want to go at the trophy,” she said. “We can do it, we did it in 2014 we can also do it this year as well.

“There is going to be a lot of motivation for women’s football in Nigeria now because of this award because there are a lot of fans out there.

“Support for women’s football in Nigeria is now growing very high.”

Watch Oshoala score here:

Oshoala — whose parents were initially disappointed with her decision to drop out of school to focus on football — was also named the best player and was the top goal scorer for the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

Her successes led to her signing with the Liverpool Ladies on January 23 of this year, making her the first African featured in the Women’s Super League.

For the BBC award, which is the first of its kind for the news organization, Oshoala was up against Germany’s Nadine Kessler, Brazil’s Marta, Spain’s Veronica Boquete, and Scotland’s Kim Little.

Of her win, the 5’10” Oshoala, who was the youngest player to be considered for the award, says, “I would like to say thank you to the BBC, to my fans around the world and to everyone who voted.”

Watch Oshoala receive the BBC award here:

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