Ebere Orji (born 23 December 1992) is a Nigerian international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who currently plays for Sundsvall DFF in the Swedish

Elitettan Elitettan ( en, The Elite First) is the second highest division of Swedish women's football. Contested by 14 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are ...

. She has previously played for multiple clubs in Nigeria, Sweden and Hungary but most notably for Ferencváros in the Hungarian

Női NB I The Női NB I ( hu, Női Nemzeti Bajnokság, for "Women's National Championship") is the top level women's football league in Hungary. Organized by the Hungarian Football Federation, it features eight teams. The champion qualifies for a spot in t ...

and Rivers Angels in her home country in the

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 ...

. She has also represented Nigeria at international level as part of the team at the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

finals, as well as the Under 20 and Under 17 World Cup.

Club career

With Rivers Angels, she once scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against COD United Ladies in a 6–1 win on their way to eventually winning the

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

in 2014. In 2015 with Ferencváros, she won both the Hungarian championship (

) and the Hungarian Cup. In the 2016–17 season, Orji ended as top goalscorer in the

with 27 goals. In 2019 Orji won the

title with

Umeå IK Umeå IK () is a professional association football club based in the city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, and currently playing Damallsvenskan, the first tier of women's football in Sweden. They were one of the most successful football clubs in ...

, scoring 11 goals in 26 league games.

International career

At the age of 15, Orji made her international debut for Nigeria women's under-17s in the inaugural U-17 Women's World Cup in 2008 in a 2–1 win against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in the group stage. Orji scored her first international goal for the under-17s in the same tournament in a 2–2 draw with

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

., but was "very disappointed" to have been later sent off in the same game. 17 days after being sent off against Brazil, Orji was again representing Nigeria, this time at under-20 level at the 2008 under-20 Women's World Cup. Orji scored on her first appearance for the team in a 1–1 draw with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and then scored twice more as the Falconets were knocked out at the quarter final stage by

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in a 2–3 defeat. Two years later, Orji was again called up to the under-20 squad for the 2010 U-20 Women's World Cup and found greater success as part of the team that knocked defending champions

USA 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 territori ...

out in the quarter finals and eventually reached the final of the competition, narrowly losing 2–0 to hosts

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Orji was ever-present in the team and scored twice in the tournament, once being the only goal in Nigeria's semi-final victory over

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Orji made her senior debut for Nigeria in a friendly against

, however she was substituted after 29 minutes and Nigeria went on to lose 8–0. Orji was part of the Nigeria squad that won the

2010 African Women's Championship The 2010 African Women's Championship was held in South Africa from 31 October to 14 November 2010. Seven national teams joined the host nation following a series of knock-out home and away ties. This tournament was also a qualification tournamen ...

. She also made appearances at the

2012 African Women's Championship The 2012 African Women's Championship was a football competition, which was organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The final tournament was held in from 28 October to 11 November in Equatorial Guinea. Qualification A total of ...

. Her World Cup debut came at the 2011 Women's World Cup, starting in all three group stage games. Nigeria failed to make it out of the group stage. In 2012, Orji again represented the under-20's for the 2012 U-20 Women's World Cup, appearing as a late substitute in all of Nigeria's games up until they were knocked out in the semi-final by the

. Orji totalled 15 games for Nigeria under-20s between 2008 and 2012, scoring 5 goals.

Honours

;Delta Queens *

: 2009 *

Aiteo Cup The AITEO Cup (a.k.a. Challenge Cup, sometimes shortened to Fed Cup), is the main football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria contested by 74 teams, representing the 36 states + 1 FCT of Nigeria. It is the Nigerian domestic cup and the Ni ...

: 2009 ;Rivers Angels *

: 2010, 2014 *

: 2010, 2011, 2012 ;Ferencváros *

: 2015–16 *

: Runner-up 2016–17 * Nöi Magyar Kupa: 2015–16, 2016–17 ;Umeå IK *

: 2019 ;Nigeria U20 *

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: 2010 ;Nigeria *

African Women's Championship The Women's Africa Cup of Nations, also called the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons and abbreviated to WAFCON, is an international women's football competition held every two years and sanctioned by the Confe ...

: 2010

References

External links

* *
Goal.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orji, Ebere 1992 births Living people Nigerian women's footballers Nigeria women's international footballers Rivers Angels F.C. players Expatriate women's footballers in Hungary 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association footballers not categorized by position Delta Queens F.C. players Bayelsa Queens F.C. players Ferencvárosi TC (women) footballers Damallsvenskan players Umeå IK players Mallbackens IF players Linköpings FC players Elitettan players IFK Kalmar players Footballers from Enugu