Rasheedat Busayo Ajibade is a talented Nigerian professional footballer. She is a member of the Nigeria women’s national team as well as the Spanish club Atlético de Madrid in the Primera División. Ajibade represented Nigeria at age-grade tournaments before making her senior team debut at the 2018 WAFU Cup in Côte d’Ivoire. According to the sports news blog Goal, she was ranked first among the best ten young footballers on the African continent in 2017.
Early Life & Education
Rasheedat Ajibade was born on December 8, 1999, in Kaduna, Nigeria, in the northwestern part of the country. She grew up in Kaduna and attended elementary school there.
Career
Club Career
Rasheedat Ajibade began her professional career with FC Robo in the Nigeria Women’s Premier League in 2013. She was a member of FC Robo from 2003 to 2018. In 2014, she was regarded as one of the league’s top young players. In September 2018, Ajibade won the Nigerian women’s football freestyle tournament for the second time in a row. Ajibade was named to Soccerladuma South Africa’s squad of the week despite her team’s loss to Confluence Queens in the second week of the 2015 Nigeria Women Premier League.
Ajibade was named captain of FC Robo’s squad for the 2017 Nigeria Women Premier League season. Earlier in the season, Ajibade scored in FC Robo’s home victory over the Ibom Angels. Ajibade won the inaugural Nigeria National Freestyle Championship to help develop freestyle football. Despite the fact that FC Robo did not finish first in 2017, Ajibade was named the season’s top player after scoring eight goals to keep her team from being demoted.
In May 2018, she was nominated for the Nigeria Pitch Awards for best player in the 2017 Nigeria Women Premier League. Ajibade reportedly agreed to a two-year contract with Norway’s Avaldsnes IL team in December 2018. Atletico Madrid announced Rasheedat Ajibade’s two-year contract on January 1, 2021. Rasheedat Ajibade’s contract with Atletico Madrid was extended by three years in January 2022, bringing it to the end of 2025.
International Career
Rosheedat Ajibade has represented Nigeria’s Women’s National Team at the under-17, under-20, and senior levels. In the first leg of the African qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, she scored twice against Namibia. Nigeria defeated Mexico by two goals in the final group match, securing a quarterfinal meeting with Spain.
Coach Bala Nikiyu’s 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup squad includes Ajibade, who wore jersey number 10. During the competition, Ajibade captained Nigeria. She represented Nigeria at the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, and she was named player of the match in the second group match against Canada.
Ajibade scored twice against Tanzania in their first-round match to determine Africa’s representative at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, giving Nigeria a three-goal lead heading into the second leg in Dar e Sallam. Ajibade scored twice as Nigeria defeated the host team in the second leg in October 2017. She scored twice as Nigeria defeated South Africa by a score of six on January 27, 2018, securing their qualification for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in France.
Head coach Thomas Dennerby chose Ajibade, Joy Jegede, Osarenoma Igbinovia, and 18 other players to represent Nigeria in the WAFU Cup’s first match in Côte d’Ivoire in February 2018. Ajibade scored a hat-trick in Nigeria’s final group match to advance to the regional tournament semi-finals.
Ajibade was a member of the Nigeria women’s national football team, which won the 2018 African Nations Championship. She led the Super Falcons for the first time in a 1-0 friendly victory over Slovenian club Olimpija Lubijana in Vienna, Austria. During the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2022, Ajibade, along with other prominent Nigerian female players such as Asisat Oshoala, Francisca Ordega, Desire Oparanozie, and others, performed admirably and became the talk of the town.
Awards & Achievements
Team
- 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – Third Place
- 2021 Supercopa de Espana – Winner
- 2018 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations – Winner
- 2018 WAFU Women’s Cup – third place
- 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup – Quarter finals
Individual
| Year | Event | Prize | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | WAFU Women’s Cup | Second highest goal scorer | Won |
| 2018 | Nigeria Football Federation | Young Player Of The Year | Won |
| 2017 | Nigeria Women Premier League | Top scorer (jointly held with Reuben Charity) | Won |
| 2017 | Nigeria Pitch Awards | Nigeria Women Premier League Player of the season | Won |
| 2017 | League Bloggers Award | Nigeria Women Premier League Player of the Season | Won |
Influence & Impacts
Rasheedat Ajibade will launch the #StandOutWithRASH campaign in the summer of 2020 in collaboration with EaglesTracker, Nigeria’s leading athlete branding company. It was a promotion for Nigeria’s inexperienced football players. Rasheedat Ajibade used her social media platform to give young football players exposure, as well as football boots, jerseys, and cash prizes, if they could show how they stood out on the field. She also debuted her official brand, RASH, which offers a unique merchandise selection that fans can purchase online.
Net Worth
According to online sources, Rasheedat Ajibade’s net worth is estimated at around $3 million.
