Rasheedat Ajibade
Ajibade with Atlético Madrid in January 2021
Personal information
Full name Rasheedat Busayo Ajibade[1]
Date of birth (1999-12-08) 8 December 1999[2]
Place of birth Kaduna, [Nigeria]]
Height 1.60 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Atlético Madrid
Number 16
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013–2018 FC Robo (9)
2018–2020 Avaldnes 39 (12)
2021– Atlético Madrid 54 (16)
International career‡
2018– Nigeria 19 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 5 November 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 October 2022

Rasheedat Busayo Ajibade (born 8 December 1999) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish Liga F club Atlético Madrid and the Nigeria women's national team. She is nicknamed "RASH", a shortened form of her first name, and is also called "The Girl With The Blue Hair", an ode to her bright-blue hairstyle which she dons whenever she takes onto the field.

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.[3]

Club career

Ajibade played for FC Robo from the 2013 Nigeria Women Premier League season till 2018 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]

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 1, 2021, Atletico Madrid announced the signing of Rasheedat Ajibade on a two-year deal.[15] In January 2022, Rasheedat Ajibade extended her contract with Atletico Madrid for a further three years, until 2025.[16]

International career

Rasheedat Ajibade has represented Nigeria at under-17, under-20 and senior national team.[17] 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.[18] At the competition proper, Ajibade scored the winning goal in Nigeria's first game against China.[19] In the final group game against [Mexico]], Ajibade scored a goal in Nigeria, two goal win to seal a quarter final game with Spain.[20]

Ajibade was named in Coach Bala Nikiyu 21-man squad for 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, wearing jersey number 10.[21][22] 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.[23] 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.[24]

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.[25] In the return leg, played in October 2017, Ajibade scored two goals in Nigeria six goal win against the home-side.[26] 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.[27]

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.[28] 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.[29][30]

Ajibade was part of the 2018 African Nations Championship Nigeria women's national football team where she won the tournament alongside the team.[31] She captained the Super Falcons for the first time in a 1-0 friendly victory over Slovenian club, Olimpija Lubijana in Vienna, Austria.[31]

On 16 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player Nigerian squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.[32]

International goals

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultConpetition
1.11 April 2022Starlight Stadium, Langford, Canada Canada2–12–2Friendly
2.4 July 2023Stade Moulay Hassan South Africa1–21–22022 Africa Women Cup of Nations
3.10 July 2023 Burundi1–04–0
4.13 July 2023Stade Mohammed V, Casablanca, Morocco Cameroon1–01–0
5.25 October 2023Abebe Bikila Stadium, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Ethiopia1–11–12024 CAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament
6.31 October 2023MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, Nigeria Ethiopia1–04–0
7.3–0

Personal life

In the summer of 2020, Rasheedat Ajibade launched the annual #StandOutWithRASH campaign, in partnership with leading Nigerian athlete branding company, EaglesTracker. It is a social media campaign aimed at promoting grassroots football talents within Nigeria. Rasheedat Ajibade uses her social media platform to provide visibility, encouragement, as well as football boots, jerseys and cash prizes to aspiring footballers who show how they stand out on the football field.

She also launched her official brand, RASH, which features a unique merchandise collection available for purchase to fans online. The brand is also involved in several other efforts within Nigeria.

Other work

Rasheedat Ajibade was announced as a brand ambassador for Pluralcode, and subsequently launched the RASHxPluralcode Tech Scholarship in March 2023, partnering with Pluralcode Academy on a scholarship program to provide free tech training in UI/UX design and Web Development to 60 Nigerians annually.

Honours

Atlético Madrid

Nigeria

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Rasheedat Ajibade at the Norwegian Football Federation (in Norwegian)
  2. ↑ Rasheedat Ajibade at Soccerway. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Top 10: African most promising women footballers to watch in 2018". Goal.com. 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. ↑ "Ajibade renews until 2025". www.atleticodemadrid.com/. 24 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "Costa Rica 2014: Nigeria's U17 Women Coach names 21 players". Premium Times. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  18. ↑ "FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Qualifiers: Flamingoes Whip Namibia's Baby Gladiators". Silverbird television. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  19. ↑ "Under 17 Women's World Cup: Nigeria Edge China". PM News. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  20. ↑ "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.
  21. ↑ "NFF Announces Kit Numbers : Rasheedat Ajibade 10, Patience Dike 3, Omokwo 9". Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  22. ↑ "Prolific Strikers Rasheedat Ajibade, Aku Headline Nigeria 21-Player World Cup". All Nigeria Soccer. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  23. ↑ "Flamingoes Captain Ajibade: We Must Score Vs Korea And Advance". Complete Sports. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  24. ↑ "Rasheedat Ajibade Shines As Nigeria Win 3–1 Against Canada". 16 November 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  25. ↑ "Rasheedat Ajibade at the double as Falconets thrashed Tanzania in Benin-city". Brila FM. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  26. ↑ "Nigeria demolish Tanzania 6–0 in World Cup qualifier". Dailytrust. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  27. ↑ "South Africa proved no match for Nigeria, says Rasheedat Ajibade". Yahoo. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  28. ↑ 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.
  29. ↑ "WAFU: Falcons thrash Senegal 3–0 to qualify for semi-finals". The Punch. 17 February 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  30. ↑ "Rasheedat Ajibade hat-trick fires Super Falcons to WAFU Cup semis". Score Nigeria. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  31. 1 2 "Super Falcons End Austrian Camping With 1-0 Victory Over Slovenian Club". Punch Newspapers. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  32. ↑ Ryan Dabbs (14 June 2023). "Nigeria Women's World Cup 2023 squad: most recent call ups". fourfourtwo.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  33. ↑ "Super Falcons Outscore Mali To Claim WAFU Women's Cup Bronze". Complete Sports. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  34. ↑ "South Africa sweep big at TotalEnergies WAFCON 2022 Awards". CAF. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
  35. ↑ "CAF announces TotalEnergies Women's AFCON 2022 Best XI". CAF. 26 July 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  36. ↑ Ahmadu, Samuel (17 December 2020). "Avaldsnes' Ajibade makes Norwegian Toppserien Team of the Season". Goal. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
  37. ↑ "Okpotu Wins LBA/NPFL Player Of The Season Award + Full List Of Winners". Eagle Online. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  38. ↑ Don, Silas. "Mikel miss out as Moses, Ndidi, others win 2017/2018 Nigeria Pitch Awards". Dailypost. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  39. ↑ "Top 10: African most promising women footballers to watch in 2018". Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  40. ↑ "Moses, Oshoala Win at Maiden Aiteo/NFF Awards". ThisDay. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
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