FC Barcelona star Asisat Oshoala: she didn't let football be banned

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Semi-final against Atlético: Asisat Oshoala (left) and her team from FC Barcelona win 1-0

JAVIER SORIANO / AFP

Asisat Oshoala's journey began over ten years ago at FC Robo. Back then, this small football club at the gates of the Nigerian metropolis of Lagos did not seem to be the ideal starting point for where Oshoala wants to arrive: She wants to make a career as a footballer. Nigeria has qualified for every women's World Cup so far, but the country has not produced superstars. There is great skepticism about Oshoala's plan. Not even their parents want to support them in the beginning.

They tell their daughter that she is a girl, that she should go to school and do her education. Football would not be an option.

Today the 25-year-old is under contract with FC Barcelona. The striker is one of the highest paid female soccer players in Europe, reportedly earning 350,000 euros a year. With football, she could have taken care of herself financially one day.

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Fast, strong header, strong shot: Asisat Oshoala

In the evening she could get one step closer to her first big title. She and her team are hoping to make it to the final of the Champions League, the opponent is VfL Wolfsburg (8 p.m., live ticker SPIEGEL.de; TV: Sport1). Oshoala had already reached the final of the premier class last year, where she even scored a goal. With their team, however, Oshoala lost 4-1 to Olympique Lyon.

In the FC Barcelona club magazine, Oshoala said that sometimes you have to take the rockiest route to reach your goals. Sometimes this path is also the most interesting. Oshoala speaks of her way.

With the success came the encouragement

As a junior, she completed trial training in France at Paris Saint-Germain, became a professional in the English Premier League, and was under contract in China for two years. Now she has arrived at a top club at FC Barcelona, ​​and in the current semi-finals she is the only player who comes from an African country. That she went this way wasn't a given.

Parents' opposition crumbled as it became clear that Oshoala could really make a great player. But she had to get that far first. At the U20 World Junior Championships in 2012, she was placed in the defensive midfield and was hardly noticeable. The skepticism remained.

But two years later, Oshoala was still young enough to play in the U20 team again, she was allowed to play as a striker. She scored seven goals, Nigeria reached the World Cup final and only lost to Germany in extra time. Sometimes it takes luck, coincidences, a different position. In any case, the 2014 tournament marked the start of her professional career.

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Oshoala at the 2019 World Cup game Nigeria: South Korea

Today Oshoala is a star, four times she was Africa's player of the year. With this status she wants to encourage young women from Africa to also dare to take the step into football. Next to the square, she has set up a foundation, the Asisat Oshoala Foundation. Oshoala wants to help so that careers do not fail in the nursery.

"I know thousands of kids are still going through the same things I did when I was young," says Oshoala. "Parents will say they want their children to go to school, they don't want to see them in sports - especially no girls. I try to talk to the girls and their parents, I want to encourage them."

Oshoala keeps telling her story, she says that you can do both, training and football. For example, you can speak several languages ​​today. She is currently helping 5000 girls with her foundation, for some of them she has already found an association. Oshoala is her own youth department.

20-goal Oshoala against 27-goal Harder

But Oshoala's development as a player is not over yet, at 25 she still has many good years ahead of her. The past season shows how good she is already: she scored 20 goals in 19 games in the emerging Spanish league. She scored four goals against CD Tacón, the club that is currently about to become a superpower in Europe. It's the Real Madrid women's team.

But the tougher opponent is waiting in the evening. VfL Wolfsburg enters the game as German champions and cup winners, the club has recently strengthened itself with the German super talent Lena Oberdorf. Striker Pernille Harder plays in the form of an upcoming world footballer; she scored four goals most recently in the quarterfinals and 27 goals in 21 Bundesliga games.

Oshoala and her teammates at FC Barcelona, ​​on the other hand, struggle with many question marks. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Spanish league had to end prematurely, and for four months Oshoala hardly went outside because of the number of infections and deaths in Spain. During this time she was only able to train a little. The most recent appearance in the quarter-finals against Atlético was their first competitive game in half a year.

Oshoala said even before advancing against Atlético: "I'm just glad that the Champions League wasn't canceled, I'm happy that football is back for us."