Antionette Oyedupe Payne (born 22 April 1995) is an American-born 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 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

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

and the Nigeria women's national team.Samuel Ahmadu
Sevilla hand Toni Payne contract extension until 2021
''

Goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ...

'', 18 June 2019. Accessed 16 May 2020.

Early life

Payne was born and raised in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

to Nigerian parents.Samuel Ahmadu
American-born Toni Payne awaits Fifa's clearance
''

'', 5 April 2019. Accessed 16 May 2020. She is the older sister of fellow footballers

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

and Nicole Payne.

Club career

From 2016 to 2018, Payne played with

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

. In June 2018, she joined Sevilla on a one-year contract, which was extended for two further years in 2019.

International career

Through birth and descent, Payne was eligible to play for 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 territori ...

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 ...

United States

Payne played for the United States under-17 team, and was in the team which won the

2012 CONCACAF Women's U-17 Championship The 2012 CONCACAF Under-17 Women's Championship was the third edition of the U-17 women's championship in football for the CONCACAF region. It was held in Guatemala City from May 2 to 12. The three best-placed teams qualified for the 2012 FIFA ...

Nigeria

In 2019, Payne declared her intention to end her international career with

.Sevilla striker Toni Payne wants to dump USA and play for Super Falcons of Nigeria
7 March 2019. Accessed 15 May 2020. She made her senior debut on 18 February 2021 starting against Russian club

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet era, it was a central piece of the big So ...

at the

Turkish Women's Cup The Turkish Women's Cup (Turkish: Türkiye Kadınlar Kupası) is the annual cup competition of women's football teams in Turkey. The tournament is also known as ''Alanya Gold City Cup'', as the tournament is held at the Gold City in Alanya, Turke ...

. Her first appearance facing other national team was two days later against

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

References

1995 births Living people Citizens of Nigeria through descent Nigerian women's footballers Women's association football forwards AFC Ajax (women) players Sevilla FC (women) players Eredivisie (women) players Primera División (women) players Nigeria women's international footballers Nigerian expatriate women's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate women's footballers in the Netherlands Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Soccer players from Birmingham, Alabama American women's soccer players Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players FC Kansas City draft picks African-American women's soccer players American sportspeople of Nigerian descent American expatriate women's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands American expatriate sportspeople in Spain 21st-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American women {{US-footy-forward-stub