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By Ebenezer Bajela.
If ever proof was needed to verify the influence of the Spanish women’s league on the women’s national team, the Super Falcons, it is the plethora of Nigerian footballers plying their trade in the Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, known as Liga F, the highest level of League competition for women’s football in Spain.
The bilateral and diplomatic relations between Nigeria and Spain have extended into football for many years with many of the country’s players finding the country on Europe’s Iberian Peninsula a safe haven.
Players like Wilfred Agbonavbare, Peter Rufai, Gbenga Okunowo, Emmanuel Amuneke, Finidi George, Mutiu Adepoju, Obafemi Martins, Ikechukwu Uche, Kalu Uche all took the La Liga, men’s equivalent of the women’s Liga F, by storm in their days.
Since forward Francisca Ordega paved the way with a loan move in 2017 to Atletico Madrid, Spain has become a big gain for Nigerian female football stars, who seem to have found new homes and equally eased their pains with mouth-watering moves to the European nation.
Little-known midfielder Peace Efih, then 19, joined Sporting de Huelva for the 2019/20 season before moving to another Spanish side
Zaragoza CFF the following season, before opting for a move to Israeli side Kiryat Gat in 2021.
Also, defender Chidinma Okeke also featured for Madrid CFF between 2019 and 2022.
Last Friday, Spanish Liga F club Levante Las Planas announced the signing of Nigerian midfielder Ngozi Okobi-Okeoghene on a free transfer for the rest of the season.
Following her addition, she becomes the second Nigerian at the club, teaming up with compatriot Rita Chikwelu, following the departure of Super Falcons captain Onome Ebi last December.
Okobi-Okeoghene is now the eighth Nigeria international in the Spanish topflight.
Here, PUNCH Sports Extra brings you the Falcons stars competing in the Spanish women’s topflight week-in-week-out…
Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
The Falcons star needs no introduction as far as the Spanish women’s league is concerned.
Since joining Barcelona from Chinese club Dalian Quanjian in 2019, Oshoala has grown to become one of the most dreaded strikers in the league.
The 28-year-old does have a lot of qualities that make her stand out from the rest. She is incredibly fast, her pace and power helping her easily glide past opponents wreaking havoc on defences time and time again.
Add that to an instinct of knowing where to be at the right moment: the reason she has scored over 100 goals for the Catalans in four years.
Recently, she bagged three consecutive hat-tricks to help the champions sit comfortably at the top above with a seven-point lead over bitter rivals Real Madrid.
Oshoala’s goalscoring exploits has seen her overtake Alba Redondo and is now leading the Pichichi race for 2022/23, the award she won last season when she became the second non-Spanish player to claim the honour.
Rashedat Ajibade (Atletico Madrid)
The 23-year-old striker joined the Spanish club from Norwegian side Avaldnes IL in 2021 and has gone on to make 54 appearances, scoring 16 goals in the process and winning the Supercopa de Espana on her debut season.
Ajibade has worked her way up the ladder from her days at local side Robo Queens to claim a seat at the high table and deservedly so as she continues to dazzle in Spain’s topflight league.
Toni Payne (Sevilla)
The American-born forward has been one of the standout players for struggling Sevilla in the Liga F so far this season.
Payne played with AFC Ajax before joining Sevilla in 2018 on a one-year contract, which was extended for two further years in 2019. She is one of the few players in the women’s league to have made over 100 appearances, having turned out for the White and Red 110 times and scored 21 goals.
After a poor start to the season where Sevilla Femenino were hovering around the relegation zone, the club needed inspiration and the Nigerian did just that and is one of the reasons they currently sit in eighth position, having won three of their last five games where she scored a goal and registered two assists.
Rita Chikwelu (Madrid CFF)
The experienced midfielder joined Madrid CFF from Kristianstad in 2020.
After a two-year spell with the Madrid side, where she made 64 appearances and scored five goals, the 31-year-old switched club to Levante Las Planas.
So far this season, the veteran midfielder, who clocks 35 in March, has made eight appearances.
Charity Adule (Alhama)
After starting her career with Rivers Angels and debuted at 14 years at the Women’s FA Cup in 2006, Adule has grown to become one of the mainstays in Spanish women’s football after she joined Eibar in 2019.
The 29-year-old moved to Alhama last summer and has made five appearances so far this season.
Gift Monday (Tenerife)
One of the newest recruits in Spain, Monday joined Tenerife after she inspired Bayelsa Queens to win the 2021/22 Nigeria Women’s Football League title, finishing as the season’s top scorer and also claiming the Player of The Season award.
The young striker still has a long way to go and if there is any way to develop her talent, it is definitely in the Spanish league.
The 21-year-old has made seven appearances for the Spanish outfit, starting five of those games but is yet to find the back of the net.
Osinachi Ohale (Alaves)
The experienced defender plays for Deportivo Alaves and is one of the club’s most trusted players.
The 31-year-old, who can play as either a centre-back or full-back, has made a total of 40 appearances for Alaves since joining from Madrid CFF in 2021 and has scored three goals.
She remains important to the club and have featured 16 times this season, starting 14 of those games.