5 Best African Players Overseas And How They Got There
Dr. Nancy Ogbonna
The Football Giants of Africa
Introduction
Africa, popularly called the mother continent is home to many talented female athletes.
A good number of female players scattered all over the world trace their roots down to Africa.
In this article, we’ll be taking a deep dive into the backstory of some of these players, and how they got to where they are.
Top 5 African Players overseas
Female football has taken the world by storm, with some of the best players being African.
We’ll be featuring 5 of the best African players who are currently overseas.
1.Asisat Oshoala (Nigeria)
Asisat Oshoala is a Nigerian football player who currently plays for FC Barcelona, one of the most prominent clubs in female football. She plays as a striker in the Spanish Primera Division.
Oshoala was born in Lagos, Nigeria on the 9th of October 1994. Born and bred in Nigeria, the 29-year-old player has set out to be a world-class personality in professional female football.
Earlier on in her career, she started out playing for teams in Nigeria. These teams include; FC Robo in Lagos State and Rivers Angels in Rivers State.
In 2014, Oshoala was named the African Women’s Player of the Year. This caught the attention of Liverpool Ladies in the English Women’s Super League.
Oshoala’s time at Liverpool was a success. She scored three goals in 12 appearances for the club between the years 2015 and 2016.
Her impressive performances led to a move to Arsenal Ladies in 2016. There she won the Women’s FA Cup in her first season.
In 2017, she signed with the Chinese Women’s Super League team Dalian Quanjian, where she won the league title and was named the league’s best striker.
In 2019, Oshoala moved to FC Barcelona, where she has continued to impress with her pace and finishing ability. She has scored over 50 goals for the club. She has also won the Spanish Primera Division, the Copa de la Reina, and the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
2.Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa)
Thembi Kgatlana is a South African football player who currently plays as a forward for Racing Louisville FC in Louisville, Kentucky.
Kgatlana was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 2nd of October, 1996.
Her career started at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa where she trained.
In February 2018, her former coach Vera Pauw moved her to play for Houston Dash in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) in the United States.
The following year, in February 2019, Kgatlana signed a one-year deal with Beijing BG Phoenix F.C. in the Chinese Women’s Super League.
Kgatlana’s performances in Houston dash and Beijing BG Phoenix caught the attention of SL Benfica in Portugal. There she signed a two-year deal in January 2020. She had an immediate impact on the club, scoring nine goals in 16 appearances and helping Benfica win the league title.
These results, for the first time, qualified the club for the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Kgatlana’s time with Benfica was however short-lived due to the salary reduction of female players in Portugal and the Covid-19 crisis.
In July 2020, Kgatlana joined SD Eibar, a Spanish Primera division club. In this club, she continued her goal-scoring spree, where she immediately became the centre of attraction.
Being increasingly popular, Kgatlana switched to Atletico Madrid in 2021, with a contract that runs till 2024. She has already made an impact in the club, scoring two goals in her first four appearances.
Finally, in July 2022, Racing Louisville FC paid a transfer fee for Kgatlana to play with them for 2 years. She currently plays with the team as a forward.
3.Tabitha Chawinga (Malawi)
Tabitha Chawinga is a Malawian football player who currently plays for the Italian Serie A club Inter Milan.
Born in Lilongwe, Malawi on the 22nd of May 1966, the young player has constantly placed herself on the path to success.
She was said to have started playing football by the age of 5. At the age of 13, she began her career playing for DD Sunshine in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Five years afterwards, by age 18, she moved on to play for Kvarnsvedens IK in Sweden.
Chawinga’s performances for Kvarnsvedens IK were exceptional. She scored 26 goals in her first season and 32 goals in her second season. Her performances caught the attention of the Chinese Women’s Super League team Wuhan Jianghan University, where she signed a two- year deal in 2018.
Since moving to China, Chawinga has continued to impress. She scored over 40 goals for the club and won the Chinese Women’s Super League in 2019. She was also named the league’s top scorer and player of the year in the same season.
In 2022, Chawinga was loaned to Italian Serie A club Inter Milan where she currently plays as a forward.
4.Gäelle Enganamouit (Cameroon)
Gäelle Enganamouit is a Cameroonian football player. She played for the Spanish club Málaga CF in the Primera División B. She also played in the Cameroon women’s national Team.
Enganamouit was born on the 9th of June 1992, in the town of Yaoundé, Cameroon.
She started her career playing for Lorema Yaoundé football club in Cameroon between the years 2009 and 2012.
In 2012, Enganamouit moved to play in the Serbian League for Spartak Subotica. She represented the team with her appearance in the UEFA Champions League. While in Spartak, Enganamouit notably scored a record-breaking goal in women’s football history, just two seconds after the commencement of the game.
Enganamouit is also a player for the Cameroonian national team. She played for the team at the Summer Olympics in 2012.
The following year, Enganamouit transferred to Swedish football, with Eskilstuna United DFF.
Enganamouit was the highest goalscorer in Damallsvenskan as of the year 2015. She scored 18 goals, bringing Eskilstuna up to second place in their title series. Her wins qualified Eskilstuna for the UEFA Women’s Championship for the first time. She also won the shooting league in Damallsvenskan. Enganamouit played with this team for 2 years, after which she was signed by FC Rosengård.
Representing Cameroon at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada, she scored a hat-trick of 6 goals to nil win over Ecuador. She was also nicknamed the “Freight Train” by Canadian fans owing to her strength and drive while playing.
Also in 2015, Enganamouit was the first Cameroonian female player to win the CAF Africa Women’s Player of the Year award.
In November 2015, Enganamouit signed a two-year contract with FC Rosengård. She was also nominated for the BBC Women’s footballer of the year award in 2016, along with Amandine Henry, Kim Little, Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn.
Unfortunately, on the opening day of the season in 2016, Enganamouit suffered an injury to her anterior cruciate ligament. This was expected to rule her out for the entire campaign. However, the injury did not stop her, as she still played more matches.
Dalian Quanjian F.C. went on to sign Enganamouit in February 2017. There she played for a year before moving to Avaldsnes IL.
Playing with Avaldsnes IL for just one year, Enganamouit makes her final move to Málaga FC in the year 2019. She eventually parted ways with Málaga FC in April 2019.
During her career, she developed a knee injury that left her handicapped, affecting her stats over 3 years. Finally, on the 9th of June 2020, Enganamouit announced her early retirement from football.
5.Francisca Ordega (Nigeria)
Francisca Ordega is a Nigerian footballer. She currently plays as a forward for CSKA Moscow at the Russian Women’s football championships.
Ordega was born on October 19th 1993 in Benue State, Nigeria.
She began her career playing locally with the Bayelsa Queens team. In 2008, she was moved to represent the team in the Nigerian Women’s Championship.
Soon after, Ordega moved up the ladder to a top-ranking club in Nigeria, the Rivers Angels. There, she continued to represent them in the Nigerian Women’s Championship.
In 2012, Ordega signed with a Russian club, Rossiyanka in the Russian Women’s Football Championship. She then mutually parted ways with the club a few months later.
Her impressive performances caught the attention of a Swedish Damallsvenskan club, Piteå IF. In 2013, she signed a contract with the club. While with Piteå IF, she made 34 appearances and scored 4 goals.
Ordega moved on to join Washington’s Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League in 2015. Her first season with the team was exceptional, where she made 2 assists and scored 3 goals. Most notably, Ordega carried the team to its first NWSL championship with her memorable goal in the semifinals.
In 2017, Ordega suffered an injury to the knee. This limited her play time during the season. However, she went on to score 4 extra goals in 14 appearances.
In 2019, Ordega was on-boarded into the Shanghai WFC on a one-year contract.
Ordega, in 2021 made a move to Levante UD with a contract lasting till 2023. This move was short-lived as she transferred to CSKA Moscow, five months into the contract. She has already begun making an impact within the team.
Bottom Line
Women’s football is an under-appreciated and integral part of the sports industry. It is made up of several talented female footballers, some of which are African. These players are given less credit than they are due, owing to the little attention given to the sport. We look forward to a future where women’s football will be as appreciated as men’s football.
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