NIGERIA
Rasheedat Ajibade
24| forward|19 caps |4 goals
Intro
Rasheedat Ajibade, also known as RASH or The Girl with the Blue Hair, has proven herself to be a powerhouse in her short time playing. Ajibade was named one of the top ten most promising soccer players in Africa by Goal.com in 2017. She has also built a social media brand around her career, using her platform to launch the #StandOutWithRASH campaign in 2020 to promote young football talent in Nigeria. She has RASH brand merch, and her Rasheedat Ajibade foundation aims to empower Nigerian youth by educating them about health, providing scholarships, and leading coaching workshops. On the pitch, she is quick and technical, and Nigeria's coach said in 2023 that he believed she could become among the best in the world. This young, electrifying player will lead Nigeria, traditionally an African soccer powerhouse, in their bid for Olympic Gold this summer.
International Career
Ajibade played for Nigeria on the U-17 and U-20 teams, scoring the winning goal against China for the U-17 team in 2014. She captained her team in the 2016 U-17 World Cup, and she was named Player of the Match for her team's game against Canada in the 2016 U-20 World Cup. She also scored several goals in Nigeria's bid to send the team to the 2018 U-20 World Cup. In the inaugural WAFU cup in 2018, Ajibade scored a hat trick against Senegal to take her team to the semifinals. She took on the captain's armband for the first time in 2021 in a friendly match against Slovenian club Olimpija Lubijana. In the 2023 World Cup, Ajibade helped her team make it to the quarter finals, where England barely beat them out. The team is young and contends with a lack of funding and support from their government, despite consistent success on the world stage. Ajibade says that she and her team have learned to deal with such hardships, and she has big dreams for the future of the squad and its emerging stars.
Club career
Ajibade played for FC Robo in Nigeria from 2013 to 2018. She collected accolades during her time there, including being voted Player of the Season in 2017, wherein she captained her team and scored 8 goals to save them from regulation. In 2019, at just 19 years old, Ajibade moved to Norway to play for the club Avaldsnes IL. She has discussed in interviews how much of a shock this move was, as she was suddenly distant from her family and in a vastly different culture and climate. Yet she did not have to deal with the Scandinavian cold for long; in 2021, she transfered to Atletico Madrid in Spain, where her contract is now extended to 2025. There, Ajibade is a consistent threat as a striker, helping her club maintain its consistent slot as a top-five team in the Spanish Women's League. In February of 2024, she celebrated playing her 100th game with the club, and she racked up 27 goals throughout that period.
"Success can be subjective. For me, [...] it’s about what impact you pass onto other people; how much value you add to other people's lives. [...] I was raised from nowhere, from nothing, and now I’m trying to be something. It’s all about appreciating what you have while trying to make a positive impact.
-Ajibade preparing for the 2023 World Cup. This marked her second World Cup at just 23 years old.
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