Thursday, 15 January 2015

OSHOALA: I WANT TO PLAY IN EUROPE BUT…


FBL-JPN-WC2012-U20-WOMEN
Africa Women’s Player of the Year award winner, Asisat Oshoala tells SAB OSUJI in this interview that she’s comfortable playing in the Nigerian league. The Rivers Angels FC star also reveals her delight winning double African honours and dedicates the awards to God and her teammates. Excerpts…

Congratulation for winning the two CAF awards as young player of the year and footballer of the year as well.
First of all I will say thank you for congratulating me.
What does these awards mean to you as a young player?

I’ll say the awards mean quite a lot to me. It means a lot to my career as well. Reason is that I don’t see it as if I’ve reached the peak (of my career). Its rather the beginning of a journey in my career as a footballer. Not the climax I must say. Its some kind of challenge, a motivation to step up and be a better player always.
Every player aspires to play in Europe, are you not feeling same way especially after becoming the best in the continent?

To be sincere with you, I’ve a lot of clubs knocking on the door for me to move. But truth is that I’m not yet decided, I’m not in a hurry to move, either on the local scene or out there in Europe. I’m not yet decided if, when and where to go. Make no mistakes about it, the Nigeria (women’s) league is a good league because if a player from the domestic league could emerge as the Best Player in Africa it tells the whole story that what we’ve here is a very good league. However talking about leaving Africa now I’m yet to decide and I’m not in a hurry to do that at the moment.
You won two awards in the Canada 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. You won the MVP at the AWC same year. You also won the Nigeria League and Federation Cup last year and today you started the new year (2015) with two awards, what’s the significance of this?

I don’t think there is anything special about it. I believe things happen the way and time God plans them. Its God’s doing and I’m happy for it. Its just that some how its a challenge for me to continue to work hard. But winning the League and Federation Cups last year was great.
Did you expect to win these two awards tonight?
I’ll only say thank you to those who voted for me to win. As a player, I always go out there hoping to do my best and also expect to win in every single game. To win two awards today I must say was not in my hands to decide. So I’m happy and grateful to have won.
Tell me Asisat, who do you want to dedicate the awards to?

First and foremost, I’m dedicating the awards to Almighty God. God comes first in everything in my life. Secondly, I’ll dedicate the awards to teammates both at the club level and national teams. Football is a team sport, you don’t play it alone. So without my teammates at the club level I wouldn’t have played well for me to be noticed and selected for the national team. The same way, without my teammates at the national teams, I wouldn’t have done anything. I also dedicate it to my fans who support and pray for me always. I can’t thank them enough. So the award is for all of us.
Finally, you had the singular honor of witnessing the FIFA Ballon D’Or Award ceremony in Switzerland on Monday. How did that make you feel?

To be honest with you, I felt very happy about it, it was a very impressive ceremony and I enjoyed every bit of it.
It was amazing, it was such an important date in my life and I’ll live to cherish it so much. To be present witnessing the FIFA Ballon D’Or live, I tell you, I was very happy about it and I commend FIFA for giving me the opportunity.

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