Rasheedat Busayo Ajibade (born 8 December 1999) is a Nigerian professional
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 ...
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
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 L ...
club
Atlético Madrid and the
Nigeria women's national team. She is nicknamed "RASH", a shortened form of her first name, and is also called "The Girl With The Blue Hair", an ode to her bright-blue hairstyle which she dons whenever she takes onto the field.
Ajibade represented Nigeria at age grade competitions, before making her competitive debut for the senior team at the 2018
WAFU Cup
The WAFU Nations Cup (also known as the WAFU Cup of Nations or simply the WAFU Cup) is an association football competition that is contested by representative teams of the West African Football Union.
History
A trophy was commissioned by President ...
in Côte d'Ivoire. In 2017, she was named first in a top 10 list of most promising young footballers on the African continent by ''Goal.com''.
Club career
Ajibade played for
FC Robo
FC Robo Queens is a women's association football club based in Mushin Lagos State, Nigeria and a member of the Nigerian Women Football League (NWFL) and have competed in the Nigeria Women Premier League, the highest division for women associatio ...
from the 2013
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 ...
season till 2018 season. In 2014, she was listed as one of the best young talents in the league. In September 2018, she won the Nigerian women football freestyle competition for the second consecutive time.
During the
2015 Nigeria Women Premier League week 2 games, Ajibade was listed in the team of the week, compiled by ''Soccerladuma South Africa'', despite her team losing to
Confluence Queens during the round of matches. For the
2017 Nigeria Women Premier League season, Ajibade was made team captain of
FC Robo
FC Robo Queens is a women's association football club based in Mushin Lagos State, Nigeria and a member of the Nigerian Women Football League (NWFL) and have competed in the Nigeria Women Premier League, the highest division for women associatio ...
. Ajibade was one of the scorers in Robos' home win against Ibom Angels during the season. On 13 July 2017, after losing to visitors
Rivers Angels, Ajibade was quoted by ''
SuperSport'' to rue her team chances of qualifying for ''Super 4'', because of the difference in points and the limited number of games remaining. Ajibade won the first edition of Nigeria National Freestyle Championship, which is a competition to promote
freestyling football. In 2017, despite Robo not being among teams that finished tops, Ajibade was voted player of the season after scoring eight goals to save her team from relegation. In May 2018, she was nominated as the best player in the
2017 Nigeria Women Premier League at
Nigeria Pitch Awards. In December 2018, Ajibade was reported to have signed a two-year contract with Norwegian side,
Avaldsnes IL, a team that plays in the
Toppserien
The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984.
History
Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1 ...
.
On January 1, 2021, Atletico Madrid announced the signing of Rasheedat Ajibade on a two-year deal.
In January 2022, Rasheedat Ajibade extended her contract with Atletico Madrid for a further three years, until 2025.
International career
Rasheedat Ajibade has represented Nigeria at
under-17,
under-20 and senior national team. In the African qualifiers, en route to the
2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, Ajibade scored a brace for Nigeria first leg win over Namibia. At the
competition proper, Ajibade scored the winning goal in Nigeria's first game against
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. In the final group game against Mexico, Ajibade scored a goal in Nigeria, two goal win to seal a quarter final game with Spain.
Ajibade was named in Coach Bala Nikiyu 21-man squad for
2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, wearing jersey number 10. At the competition, Ajibade was the captain of
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, and spoke to ''FIFA.com'' on the determination of the team to do better than the quarter-final finish they had in 2014. Ajibade was also part of
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
players at
2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, she was named man-of-the-match in the second group game against
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 ...
.
In the first round encounter to determine Africa's representative at
2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, Ajibade scored a brace in the first leg tie against Tanzania, that gave Nigeria a three-goal advantage before the return leg in Dar e Sallam. In the return leg, played in October 2017, Ajibade scored two goals in Nigeria six goal win against the home-side. On 27 January 2018, Ajibade scored two goals in Nigeria's six goal win against
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
, the win confirmed
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
's qualification for the
2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France.
In February 2018, Ajibade alongside
Joy Jegede
Joy Jegede (born 16 December 1991) is a Nigerian women's international footballer who plays as a defender. She is a member of the Nigeria women's national football team, and previously for the under-20 side. She was part of the team at the 2012 ...
,
Osarenoma Igbinovia and 18 other players were selected by head coach,
Thomas Dennerby to represent Nigeria at the inaugural edition of
WAFU Cup
The WAFU Nations Cup (also known as the WAFU Cup of Nations or simply the WAFU Cup) is an association football competition that is contested by representative teams of the West African Football Union.
History
A trophy was commissioned by President ...
in Côte d'Ivoire. In the second group game of the regional tournament, Ajibade scored a hat-trick to take Nigeria to the semi-finals with a game left.
Ajibade was part of the
2018 African Nations Championship 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 wome ...
where she won the tournament alongside the team.
She captained the Super Falcons for the first time in a 1-0 friendly victory over Slovenian club, Olimpija Lubijana in Vienna, Austria.
Personal life
In the summer of 2020, Rasheedat Ajibade launched the annual #StandOutWithRASH campaign, in partnership with leading Nigerian athlete branding company, EaglesTracker. It is a social media campaign aimed at promoting grassroots football talents within Nigeria. Rasheedat Ajibade uses her social media platform to provide visibility, encouragement, as well as football boots, jerseys and cash prizes to aspiring footballers who show how they stand out on the football field.
She also launched her official brand, RASH, which features a unique merchandise collection available for purchase to fans online. The brand is also involved in several other efforts within Nigeria.
Honours
Atlético Madrid
*
Supercopa de Espana:
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
Nigeria
*
WAFU Women's Cup
The WAFU Zone B Women's Cup is a women's association football competition contested by national teams of Zone B of the West African Football Union
The West African Football Union (french: Union des Fédérations Ouest-Africaines de Football; pt, ...
third place:
2018
*
Women's Africa Cup of Nations
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 ...
:
2018
Individual
*
Toppserien
The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984.
History
Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1 ...
Team of the Season:
2020
* League Bloggers Award NWPL Player of the Season:
2017
*
Nigeria Pitch Awards NWPL Player of the season:
2017
*
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 ...
Top scorer:
2017 (
jointly held with Reuben Charity)
*
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 ...
Young Player Of The Year: 2018
*
Women's Africa Cup of Nations Top scorer:
2022
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ajibade, Rasheeday
1999 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Lagos State
Nigerian women's footballers
Women's association football forwards
FC Robo players
Avaldsnes IL players
Atlético Madrid Femenino players
Toppserien players
Nigeria women's international footballers
2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players
Nigerian expatriate women's footballers
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Norway
Expatriate women's footballers in Norway
Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain
Expatriate women's footballers in Spain
Yoruba sportswomen