Ode Fulutudilu (born 6 February 1990) is a

soccer player 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Spanish club

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

and the South Africa women's national team. She has previously played for clubs in South Africa, Finland, Spain, Scotland, and France. She made her debut for South Africa in 2014 and was a member of their

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

squad. Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, she and her family initially arrived in South Africa as refugees.

Early life

Ode Fulutudilu was born in

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

, Democratic Republic of Congo, on 6 February 1990. When she was three years old, her family left the country due to unrest and went to neighbouring Angola as refugees, before moving on to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in South Africa the following year. Fulutudilu's father was unable to find work in South Africa and eventually returned to Angola, but left her behind as he felt she would have a better future there. She subsequently grew up in a children's home. Having become interested in football when she watched the South Africa men's national team playing in the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, she joined her first organised girls' team. Through this she met a British volunteer (Joelle Holland) who subsequently became her foster mother, and was instrumental in her getting a scholarship to study in the United States at

Lee University Lee University is a private Christian university in Cleveland, Tennessee. It was originally the Church of God Bible Training School, a small Bible institute founded in 1918 with twelve students and one teacher, Nora I. Chambers. The school grew ...

in Cleveland, Tennessee.

College career

Fulutudilu spent four years playing college soccer for the Lee Flames, the athletic team of Lee University, winning three regular season titles and two national titles.

Club career

When she signed with

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

in 2019, she became the first South African to play in the top tier of Spanish women's football. In January 2021, she left Finland to sign with Glasgow City in Scotland, joining fellow South African

Janine van Wyk Janine van Wyk (born 17 April 1987) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a defender for her own club in South Africa JVW and captains the South Africa women's national team. She is the highest capped player in South Afri ...

. However, due to COVID-19-related limits on football, she was not able to make her debut for the team until April. She would score hat-tricks in both her debut and second matches for Glasgow. In February 2023, Fulutudilu returned to Spain, joining

Liga F The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's La Lig ...

club

International career

She played for the ''Banyana Banyana'' at 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 ...

She also represented South Africa at the 2019 World Cup, the country's first appearance in the tournament finals.

Personal life

Fulutudilu has a bachelor's degree in sociology from Lee University.

References

External links

* * * 1990 births Living people Footballers from Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo refugees Democratic Republic of the Congo emigrants to South Africa Naturalised citizens of South Africa Democratic Republic of the Congo women's footballers South African women's soccer players Women's association football forwards Lee Flames women's soccer players Kansallinen Liiga players Málaga CF Femenino players South Africa women's international soccer players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate footballers South African expatriate soccer players Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriates in the United States South African expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Expatriate women's footballers in Finland Democratic Republic of the Congo expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Glasgow City F.C. players FC Fleury 91 (women) players Real Betis Féminas players Scottish Women's Premier League players College women's soccer players in the United States Expatriate women's footballers in Scotland South African expatriate sportspeople in Scotland {{DRCongo-women-footy-bio-stub