Christy Ohiaeriaku (born 13 December 1996) is a Nigerian women's international footballer who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. She is a member of the

Nigeria women's national football team The Nigeria national women's football team, nicknamed the Super Falcons, represents Nigeria in international women's football and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation. The team is by far Africa's most successful international women ...

. At a club level she played for

Osun Babes Osun Babes F.C. (formerly Comfort Queens F.C. and Oyinlola Queens F.C.) is a football club based in Osogbo, Osun State. It was founded in 1995 under the military rule of Anthony Udofia. They participate in the elite division of female football le ...

and

Rivers Angels Rivers Angels F.C. (formerly Larry Angels F.C.) is a Nigerian football club based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. They play in the Nigeria Women Premier League, the top flight division in the female soccer league system. History The club wa ...

in Nigeria, and since 2016 for IFK Ostersund in Sweden.

Football career

Ohiaeriaku played for

as their first choice

in the inaugural

Nigeria Women Premier League The NWFL Premiership (formerly Nigeria Women Premier League) is the top-level league for women's association football in Nigeria. It is the women's equivalent of the men's league, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). The Nigeria Wome ...

, where the team finished in third place. This performance resulted in the teenager being called up to the national team. She subsequently left to join reigning champions

after they won two subsequent league titles, before transferring back to Osun Babes in early 2016. In a statement, she thanked the team and support staff at Rivers Angels, describing them as a family. Later that year, she transferred to Swedish side IFK Ostersund on a one-year deal with a possible extension of a further year.

International career

Prior to the

2014 African Women's Championship The 2014 African Women's Championship, the 11th edition of the tournament, was held in Namibia. This tournament, organized by the Confederation of African Football, was also a qualification tournament for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, with top t ...

, Ohiaeriaku was included in a provisional squad for the

. She was part of the team at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

, being one of three goalkeepers chosen. She did not start any games, instead being an unused substitute for the matches against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in what was described as a "

group of death A group of death in a multi-stage tournament is a group which is unusually competitive, because the number of strong competitors in the group is greater than the number of qualifying places available for the next phase of the tournament. Thus, in ...

". In the run up to the

2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 8th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tourname ...

, she hoped her continued football in Sweden would help her achieve a place in the squad. She was subsequently named in the squad for the tournament.

References

External links

* * 1996 births Living people Nigerian women's footballers Nigeria women's international footballers Rivers Angels F.C. players Osun Babes F.C. players IFK Östersund players Nigerian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Place of birth missing (living people) 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football goalkeepers Igbo people {{Nigeria-women-footy-bio-stub