Rasheedat Ajibade

Rasheedat Busayo Ajibade (born 8 December 1999)[1] is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Spanish Primera División club Atlético de Madrid and the Nigeria women's national football team. Ajibade represented Nigeria at age grade competitions, before making her competitive debut for the senior team at the 2018 WAFU Cup in Côte d'Ivoire. In 2017, she was named first in a top 10 list of most promising young footballers on the African continent by Goal.com.[2]

Rasheedat Ajibade
Personal information
Full name Rasheedat Busayo Ajibade
Date of birth (1999-12-08) 8 December 1999
Place of birth Nigeria
Height 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Atlético de Madrid
Number 16
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2018 FC Robo (9)
2018–2020 Avaldnes 39 (12)
2021– Atlético de Madrid 0 (0)
National team
2018– Nigeria 12 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Ajibade has represented Nigeria at under-17, under-20 and senior national team.[3] She has been playing for FC Robo since the 2013 Nigeria Women Premier League season. In 2014, she was listed as one of the best young talents in the league.[4] In September 2018, she won the Nigerian women football freestyle competition for the second consecutive time.[5]

Club career

During the 2015 Nigeria Women Premier League week 2 games, Ajibade was listed in the team of the week, compiled by Soccerladuma South Africa, despite her team losing to Confluence Queens during the round of matches.[6] For the 2017 Nigeria Women Premier League season, Ajibade was made team captain of FC Robo.[7] Ajibade was one of the scorers in Robos' home win against Ibom Angels during the season.[8] On 13 July 2017, after losing to visitors Rivers Angels, Ajibade was quoted by SuperSport to rue her team chances of qualifying for Super 4, because of the difference in points and the limited number of games remaining.[9] Ajibade won the first edition of Nigeria National Freestyle Championship, which is a competition to promote freestyling football.[10] In 2017, despite Robo not being among teams that finished tops, Ajibade was voted player of the season after scoring eight goals to save her team from relegation.[11] In May 2018, she was nominated as the best player in the 2017 Nigeria Women Premier League at Nigeria Pitch Awards.[12] In December 2018, Ajibade was reported to have signed a two-year contract with Norwegian side, Avaldsnes IL, a team that plays in the Toppserien.[13][14] On January 1st 2021, Atletico Madrid announced the signing of Rasheedat Ajibade on a two-year [15]

International career

In the African qualifiers, en route to the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, Ajibade scored a brace for Nigeria first leg win over Namibia.[16] At the competition proper, Ajibade scored the winning goal in Nigeria's first game against China.[17] In the final group game against Mexico, Ajibade scored a goal in Nigeria, two goal win to seal a quarter final game with Spain.[18]

Ajibade was named in Coach Bala Nikiyu 21-man squad for 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, wearing jersey number 10.[19][20] At the competition, Ajibade was the captain of Nigeria, and spoke to FIFA.com on the determination of the team to do better than the quarter-final finish they had in 2014.[21] Ajibade was also part of Nigeria players at 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, she was named man-of-the-match in the second group game against Canada.[22]

In the first round encounter to determine Africa's representative at 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, Ajibade scored a brace in the first leg tie against Tanzania, that gave Nigeria a three-goal advantage before the return leg in Dar e Sallam.[23] In the return leg, played in October 2017, Ajibade scored two goals in Nigeria six goal win against the home-side.[24] On 27 January 2018, Ajibade scored two goals in Nigeria's six goal win against South Africa, the win confirmed Nigeria's qualification for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France.[25]

In February 2018, Ajibade alongside Joy Jegede, Osarenoma Igbinovia and 18 other players were selected by head coach, Thomas Dennerby to represent Nigeria at the inaugural edition of WAFU Cup in Côte d'Ivoire.[26] In the second group game of the regional tournament, Ajibade scored a hat-trick to take Nigeria to the semi-finals with a game left.[27][28]

Ajibade was part of the 2018 African Nations Championship Nigeria women's national football team where she won the tournament alongside the team.[29]

Honours

Individual

Team

References
  1. "R. AJIBADE". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  2. "Top 10: African most promising women footballers to watch in 2018". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  3. "Costa Rica 2014: Nigeria's U17 Women Coach names 21 players". Premium Times. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  4. "The Top Young Talent In Nigerian Women's Football". SL10. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  5. Oludare, Shina. "Rasheedat Ajibade retains Nigeria women freestyle crown".
  6. "NWPL Team Of Round Two". SL10. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  7. "Champions Rivers Angels stay in touch with Bayelsa Queens after easy win at Robo Queens". 13 July 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  8. "Ogbonda rues loss at FC Robo". Supersport. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  9. "Ajibade unsure of NWFL Super Four". Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  10. "McCarthy Obanor, Rasheedat Ajibade emerge Nigeria Freestyle Football Champions". 25 July 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  11. "LBA 2017 Takes Centre Stage in Lagos". 24 November 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  12. Abayomi, Tosin (11 May 2018). "Mikel, Moses lead nominations for fifth edition". Pulse. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  13. Ahmadu, Samuel (26 December 2018). "Norwegian outfit Avaldsnes sign Rasheedat Ajibade from FC Robo Queens". Goal.com. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  14. Okeleji, Oluwashina. "Rasheedat Ajibade: Nigeria's rising star moves to Norway". BBC. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
  15. Adedotun, Osi-Efa. "Rasheedat Ajibade Joins Atletico Madrid". MySportDab.com.
  16. "FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Qualifiers: Flamingoes Whip Namibia's Baby Gladiators". Silverbird television. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  17. "Under 17 Women's World Cup: Nigeria Edge China". PM News. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  18. "FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup: Nigeria beat Mexico 3 – 0, to take on Spain in quarter-final". Nigerian Monitor. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  19. "NFF Announces Kit Numbers : Rasheedat Ajibade 10, Patience Dike 3, Omokwo 9". Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  20. "Prolific Strikers Rasheedat Ajibade, Aku Headline Nigeria 21-Player World Cup". All Nigeria Soccer. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  21. "Flamingoes Captain Ajibade: We Must Score Vs Korea And Advance". Complete Sports. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  22. "Rasheedat Ajibade Shines As Nigeria Win 3–1 Against Canada". 16 November 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  23. "Rasheedat Ajibade at the double as Falconets thrashed Tanzania in Benin-city". Brila FM. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  24. "Nigeria demolish Tanzania 6–0 in World Cup qualifier". Dailytrust. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  25. "South Africa proved no match for Nigeria, says Rasheedat Ajibade". Yahoo. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  26. Samuel, Ahmadu (12 February 2018). "FC Robo Queen's Rasheedat Ajibade tops Nigeria women squad for 2018 Wafu Women's Cup". Goal.com. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  27. "WAFU: Falcons thrash Senegal 3–0 to qualify for semi-finals". The Punch. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  28. "Rasheedat Ajibade hat-trick fires Super Falcons to WAFU Cup semis". Score Nigeria. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  29. Published. "Coach names final Super Falcons squad for 2018 Women AFCON". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  30. "Okpotu Wins LBA/NPFL Player Of The Season Award + Full List Of Winners". Eagle Online. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  31. Don, Silas. "Mikel miss out as Moses, Ndidi, others win 2017/2018 Nigeria Pitch Awards". Dailypost. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  32. "Top 10: African most promising women footballers to watch in 2018". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  33. "Moses, Oshoala Win at Maiden Aiteo/NFF Awards". ThisDay. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  34. "Super Falcons Outscore Mali To Claim WAFU Women's Cup Bronze". Complete Sports. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
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