Courtney Ozioma Dike (born 3 February 1995) is a footballer who plays as a forward. Born in the United States, she represents 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 international level.

Career

College and amateur

Born in

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest cit ...

, Courtney attended Edmond North High School and played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. In her four years at Edmond North High School, she scored over 90 goals. She studied

accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the measurement, processing, and communication of financial and non financial information about economic entities such as businesses and corporations. Accounting, which has been called the "languag ...

and played for the Oklahoma State University women's soccer team.

International career

In 2014, Courtney received a call up to represent the Nigerian U-20 national team for the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

where she scored the fastest goal in the history of the competition after just 13 seconds in a match against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

. Her performance in the tournament earned her three nominations at the 2014 Nigeria Sports Award. Courtney went on to represent Nigeria 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 ...

in Canada. On 12 June 2015, she made history by becoming the first native Oklahoman to ever play in the World Cup after coming on for

Asisat Oshoala Asisat Lamina Oshoala MON (born 9 October 1994) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Spanish Liga F club FC Barcelona and the Nigeria women's national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest African female fo ...

in a match against

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 ...

Personal life

She has two brothers,

Bright Bright may refer to: Common meanings *Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness *Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence People * Bright (surname) * Bright (given name) *Bright, the stage na ...

and

Daryl Darryl is an English name, a variant spelling of Darell. Male variations of this name include: Darlin, Daryl, Darrell, Darryl, Daryll, Darryll, Darrell, Darrel. Female and unisex variations of this name include: Daryl, Darian, Dareen, Darell ...

, and two sisters, Kimberly and Brittny. It was reported in the media that she rejected the bonus given to her for her role in the

. She explained in a letter sent to the

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's football governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football team in 1949. It joined CAF in 1959 and FIF ...

that "I am delighted to play for Nigeria whenever called upon. I knew before leaving for the U-20 World Cup that I would not accept any bonuses. Acceptance of prize money is against NCAA regulations (the division 1 collegiate governing body) here in the US, so that is the main reason for rejecting it.".

Honours

International

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...

Runner-up:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Individual

*"All-City Player of the Year" (2013)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * 1995 births Living people Citizens of Nigeria through descent Nigerian women's footballers Nigeria women's international footballers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Oklahoma State Cowgirls soccer players Sportspeople from Edmond, Oklahoma Soccer players from Oklahoma American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Women's association football forwards {{Nigeria-women-footy-bio-stub