Ifeoma Nnenna Dieke (born 25 February 1981) is an American-born Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

defender, currently playing for

Apollon Ladies F.C. Apollon Ladies FC is a Women's association football, women's association football, football team from Limassol, Cyprus, established in 2007. It is the leading club in the country, having won nine consecutive doubles. It is associated with men's si ...

of the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

. She previously played for several professional clubs in Sweden and the United States. Between 2004 and 2017, she won 123

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Scotland women's national football team. Dieke was born in

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, to

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 ...

n parents, moving to

Cumbernauld Cumbernauld (; gd, Comar nan Allt, meeting of the streams) is a large town in the historic county of Dunbartonshire and council area of North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is the tenth most-populous locality in Scotland and the most populated t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

when she was three years old. Dieke and fellow Scot

Kim Little Kim Alison Little (born 29 June 1990) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captains Arsenal of the English FA WSL. Before her retirement from international duty in 2021, Little was vice-captain of the Scotland women's nat ...

were the only non-English players selected in the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

squad for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Club career

Dieke started her football career when she was eight years old, playing for her primary school St Mary's. She later joined Cumbernauld Cosmos, from where she moved to Cumbernauld Ladies. In 1999, she was awarded a scholarship by

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Miami-Dade County. Founded in 1965, the school opened its doors to students in 1972. FIU has grown to become the third-largest university in Florid ...

, playing for the university's

FIU Golden Panthers The FIU Panthers (also known as Florida INT Panthers) are the athletic teams representing Florida International University, an American public university located in Westchester, Florida. The Panthers currently compete in National Collegiate Ath ...

women's soccer team. She graduated in 2003 and joined

Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000, the league began its first season in April 2001 with eight teams in the Un ...

side Atlanta Beat. She started eight of 13 regular season games and scored one goal. The league folded at the end of her first season, and Dieke later played in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

(for

QBIK QBIK is a Swedish football team from Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the provinc ...

in 2007 and for

Kristianstads DFF Kristianstads DFF is a women's association football club from Kristianstad, Sweden. The club is affiliated to the Skånes Fotbollförbund. History The original club Wä IF played in from 1989 to 1994 in the Damallsvenskan. The club was reformed ...

in 2008) and

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

. In 2009, she joined the

Chicago Red Stars The Chicago Red Stars are a professional women's soccer club based in Bridgeview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league, they have played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) sin ...

. In the inaugural

2009 Women's Professional Soccer season The 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season served as the inaugural season for WPS, the top level professional women's soccer league in the United States. The regular season began on March 29 and ended on August 9, with the postseason being hel ...

, Dieke appeared in 14 games. She was sent off for fouling

Kelley O'Hara Kelley Maureen O'Hara (born August 4, 1988) is an American soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, and Olympic gold medalist. She currently plays as a defender for the Gotham FC in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and ...

during the Red Stars' 2–0 defeat to

FC Gold Pride FC Gold Pride was an American professional soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-le ...

in May 2010. The following month she was allowed to move to the

Boston Breakers The Boston Breakers were an American professional soccer club based in the Boston neighborhood of Allston. The team competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). They replaced the original Breakers, who competed in the defunct Women's ...

on a free transfer. She started 12 of her 13 appearances for the Breakers in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, scoring one goal against her former employers Chicago, for whom she had made five early season appearances. During the WPS offseason in 2011, Dieke joined Cypriot club

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divis ...

on loan from the Breakers. The WPS folded ahead of the 2012 season and Dieke returned to Sweden, signing for Damallsvenskan newcomers

Vittsjö GIK Vittsjö Gymnastik- och Idrottsklubb is a football club from Vittsjö, Sweden. They play in the highest level of women's soccer leagues in Sweden, the Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OB ...

. Despite missing almost the entire

2013 Damallsvenskan The 2013 Damallsvenskan, part of the 2013 Swedish football season, is the 26th season of Damallsvenskan since its establishment in 1988. The season began on 13 April 2013 and ends on 20 October 2013. Tyresö FF are the defending champions, havin ...

season through injury, Dieke was given a new contract by Vittsjö ahead of 2014. In January 2018, Dieke left Vittsjö after six seasons. In search of a new challenge, she joined newly promoted Damallsvenkan club IFK Kalmar. The move was not successful and with Kalmar adrift at the foot of the league table, Dieke was dropped from the team and released during the mid-season break. It was reported that she was unhappy at Kalmar's failure to strengthen their playing squad. She returned to Apollon in September 2018.

International career

Dieke was eligible to represent either

, 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at international level. She made her Scotland debut in January 2004 against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

and earned her 50th cap against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

in May 2009. In October 2008 she scored an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

in a

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying Qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009 determined which 11 teams joined Finland, the hosts of the 2009 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Preliminary round 20 teams were divided into 5 groups of 4. The 5 group winners qualified ...

play-off against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

Nalchik Nalchik (russian: Нальчик, p=ˈnalʲtɕɪk; Kabardian: //; krc, Нальчик //) is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northw ...

. The tie finished 4–4 and Scotland were eliminated on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

, much to Dieke's disappointment: "It hit off my shin, and for me that was the one that knocked us out because it was an away goal. I was beating myself up quite a bit for that." In 2012 Dieke was selected for a place in the

team at the

. Along with Scotland teammate

, Dieke was one of only two non-English players in the squad. She played alongside Casey Stoney in central defence, but suffered knee ligament damage in the second group match and had to withdraw from the squad. Medical tests showed that she had ruptured an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formati ...

, which prevented her from playing in the remainder of Scotland's

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifying The Qualifying rounds for the UEFA Women's Euro 2013 determined which 11 teams joined Sweden, the hosts of the 2013 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Tie breakers If two or more teams are tied in points the tie breakers are ...

matches. After missing almost two years of international football due to the injury, Dieke was recalled to Scotland's squad for the 2014 Cyprus Women's Cup. That October she won her 100th cap in Scotland's 2–0 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA play-offs defeat by the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in Rotterdam. Dieke remained in Scotland's team for

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying The UEFA Women's Euro 2017 qualifying competition was a women's football competition that determined the 15 teams joining the automatically qualified hosts Netherlands in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 final tournament. A total of 46 UEFA member nati ...

. With teammate Jo Love, she was awarded a special cap in October 2015 as part of a

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

-backed programme to honour players with 100 or more appearances for their national teams. When Scotland secured qualification for their first ever major tournament at

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national tea ...

, after several near misses, 36-year-old veteran Dieke announced that she would be retiring from international football afterwards. She played in all three games as Scotland made a limp group stage exit, then confirmed her decision to retire the following month.

Playing style

Team GB coach

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Britain ...

said of Dieke: "Ife's a great defender one-v-one. She probably prefers a centre-half role but can play anywhere along the back." Writing in '' The Herald'' in 2017, sports journalist Alan Campbell described Dieke as: " quick and tactically astute central defender".

Personal life

Dieke is often referred to by the

hypocorism A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as '' Izzy'' fo ...

"Ife" (or "Iffy"). She can speak the

Igbo language Igbo ( , ; Igbo: ''Ásụ̀sụ́ Ìgbò'' ) is the principal native language cluster of the Igbo people, a meta-ethnicity from Southeastern Nigeria. The number of Igboid languages depends on how one classifies a language versus a dialect, so ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile
at

Swedish Football Association The Swedish Football Association ( sv, Svenska Fotbollförbundet, SvFF) is the governing and body of football in Sweden. It organises the football leagues – Allsvenskan for men and Damallsvenskan for women – and the men's and women's nat ...

(SvFF) {{DEFAULTSORT:Dieke, Ifeoma 1981 births Living people Black British sportswomen Scottish women's footballers Scotland women's international footballers Women's United Soccer Association players FIU Panthers women's soccer players Atlanta Beat (WUSA) players Chicago Red Stars players Boston Breakers (WPS) players American emigrants to Scotland American sportspeople of Nigerian descent British sportspeople of Nigerian descent Scottish people of Nigerian descent Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic women's footballers of Great Britain Sportspeople from Amherst, Massachusetts People from Cumbernauld Kristianstads DFF players Damallsvenskan players Vittsjö GIK players QBIK players FIFA Century Club IFK Kalmar players Women's association football defenders Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Cyprus Apollon Ladies F.C. players Scottish expatriate women's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Footballers from North Lanarkshire African-American women's soccer players American women's soccer players Sportspeople of Nigerian descent 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American women Women's Professional Soccer players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players