Queen of comebacks: Oshoala’s journey to stardom and her history of resilience

Asisat Oshoala has a lesson to share. She towers over the microphone and says, “this year made me realise that if you don’t fall, you don’t know the power of comeback; you don’t know what comeback means”. The wisdom in her voice swirls across the dim-lit hall of African football royalties and administrators, choreographing nods of assimilation out of them.

If truly rebounds are not the fructifying end of setbacks, Oshoala would not be standing — her knees strapped in braces — in front of these people, clutching one of the most prestigious awards of the night; she would not be crowned the 2022 CAF women’s ‘player of the year’; she would not have been the first person to be crowned the best African footballer five times, or even play professional football, to begin with.

She ruptured her knee ligament twice in the just concluded season and was out of action for both Barcelona Femeni and the Super Falcons for a cumulation of four months. Yet she returned to finish as the joint top scorer in the women’s Spanish Primera Division.

Every chapter on the story of Oshoala’s ascendance into football stardom has one recurring theme: resilience.

HIDING FROM HER PARENTS TO GO PLAY FOOTBALL

Growing up in the noughties in the then sleepy town of Ikorodu, Lagos, Oshoala was almost limited by the cultural barriers hindering women’s ambition in Africa. Women’s football was not a priority on the continent until 1991 when the first African Women’s Cup of Nations was staged.

The game existed in the expansive shadow of the men’s, and, although it had started producing stars like Mercy Akhide and Pepertual Nwokwocha, female footballers were disregarded as transgressors in a male activity. They were viewed as delicate beings, not sweaty romps that go to bed with a ball instead of a plastic doll.

Oshoala’s parents were determined to whip out the football passion from their daughter.

“There are some other days where when I was playing, I would ask my friends to look out for my dad because sometimes he would pass through where I used to play,” she once told The Athletic.

“When they checked and told me: ‘Your dad is coming,’ I’d just hide, and when he was gone, I just continued playing the game.”

Oshoala paid the price of her stubbornness with welts from flogging whenever she was caught.

“Sometimes I don’t get to sleep at home. Some days my mom wouldn’t even give me money for food,” she said.

But a persistent Oshoala braved the pain and gave herself to football, playing “on tarred roads” as she honed the core of what would be the skill set of one of the best female footballers in the world.

Her resilience and the support of her late grandmother were the armour that never broke. Not even a Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) title with Rivers Angels in 2014 changed her parents’ perspective.

She then went to the 2015 U-20 FIFA Women Championship and came home with both the golden boot and golden ball. Her parents were forced into a consensus.

“When I went to a global international tournament, for me, it was still all fun. I wasn’t thinking anything about becoming a professional. It was all fun. I was still waiting for my results for me to get into university. So my mum and dad were like: ‘Okay, just have all the fun you want to have now, once you get back to school, then that’s the end of it.”

BARCELONA FROM CHINA

Oshoala’s career took off in 2015, and she left Nigeria to join Liverpool FC Ladies in England. After an injury-hampered first season, she moved to Arsenal Ladies in London.

At her unveiling, Pedro Losa, the then Arsenal Ladies manager, described her as “a fantastic talent and will be a great addition to our squad. She is quick, with excellent feet and has proven she can score goals, so it’s very positive she has decided to join us”.

The Nigerian won the 2016 FA Cup with the team, but her confidence dipped with just 13 appearances and two goals for the club during the season.

“I needed a place where I could build my confidence again because I think I almost lost it at Arsenal. I wasn’t playing so much as I actually wanted to play,” she had said.

Dalian Quanjian FC of the Chinese Super League came calling, and Oshoala saw an opportunity to revitalise her declining self-confidence. She wanted a league where her developing skills would be nurtured away from the relentless scrutiny of the hawking press. 

Many criticised the move as inspired by money. Several of Oshoala’s detractors even said she would not return to European football after the transfer — hinting at the end of her career in elite football.

“I had the opportunity of being with a professional coach who wanted me in Paris at that time, but then he said he was going to China and wanted me to come over with him.

“So, that was why I went to China, to boost my confidence. I needed to test myself again and ask myself: ‘Do you still have it or not?’ I had to make that decision to say: ‘Okay, let me go.’

“China was like a blessing for me. I keep saying it every day. I left Arsenal for China, I knew what I wanted then. I needed a coach and an organisation who believed in me, and that could actually give me that confidence and China gave it to me.”

She finished with the golden boot in her first season as Dalian won a league and cup double. She repeated the feat the following season.

GOING LOW TO GO HIGH

Then came Barcelona Femini and an initial six-month loan offer in January 2019. The career that was believed to have entered its twilight suddenly came out from behind the clouds to shine.

Oshoala would score Barcelona’s only goal in a 4–1 defeat to Lyon in the 2019 UEFA Women’s Champions League final, becoming the first African woman to score in the final of Europe’s elite tournament.

She scored seven goals in her seven appearances for the club that season and Barcelona gave her a full contract.

In 2021, Oshoala became the first African woman to win the UEFA Champions League as Barcelona defeated Chelsea 4-0 in the final.

“I think I made a great decision because, after the China move, everything has just been going up. So sometimes you have to go low to go high,” she said.

The Nigerian recognised the importance of resilience. She mastered the art of wringing out a comeback out of the mountain of disappointment.

When asked about winning the Ballon D’Or prize in the future, Oshoala replied, “I will see it as deserving because I have really worked hard to be at that level”.

Words of a woman who knows the full capacity of her ability and anyone who dismisses her does so at their peril.