FIFA this day on its website celebrates Nigeria’s forward, Rasheedat Ajibade as part of the countdown to the Women’s World Cup jointly being hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Ajibade, a forward in the women’s squad of Atletico Madrid is one of Nigeria’s great hopes.
“I think she has the potential to be one of the best players in the world.” Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum remarked while discussing Ajibade with FIFA.com.
“…she is in no doubt an exciting attacker – “technically unbelievable, great pace” – can scale the summit of the beautiful game.”
Ajibade herself, the self-described “girl with the blue hair”, holds similarly lofty ambitions for her burgeoning career.
But the 23-year-old said that her achievements thus far – which include finishing joint-top scorer at last year’s CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and excelling for Spanish giants Atletico Madrid – already represent something of a miracle.
“Looking backwards, l can’t comprehend [what I’ve done] considering how I grew up, and the kind of challenges I went through as a child,” she explains.
“Nothing to eat, walking on the street, going to the market, selling, coming back late at night, sometimes going to help families like a ‘house-girl’ just to get a token or a penny to survive. Stuff like that, and yet you would still be treated like trash. It was really terrible. Now, I know that God has a plan for me.”
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