May 29, 2015 Asisat Oshoala from Nigeria has emerged the winner of the very first BBC Women’s footballer of the year award.
The 20 year old, who was the youngest player among the shortlisted ladies, was last year’s top scorer at the Under-20s World Cup in Canada last year. She was also voted the tournament’s best player, not shocking when you consider her dazzling performances which helped her home country Nigeriareach the finals. Asisat was also a major influence in the senior Nigeria team who won the African Women’s Championship in October.
The rising star described the award as a big lift for Nigeria before the World Cup, saying it would inspire young players in Nigeria.
According to her, “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. 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. I know my Liverpool Ladies coach is going to be happy right now. Before I left the UK he called me and said to me ‘don’t worry I hope you win the award and we’re going to celebrate it when you come back’.”
Congratulations to you Asisat!