Esther Sunday

Ukpong Esther Sunday (born 13 March 1992) is a Nigerian footballer, who plays for ALG Spor in the Turkish Women's First Football League. Sunday has previously played at a club level for Sunshine Queens and Pelican Stars in the Nigerian Women's Championship, as well as FC Minsk in the Belarusian Premier League. She has also played at an international level for the Nigeria women's national football team in several tournaments.

Esther Sunday
Personal information
Full name Ukpong Esther Sunday[1]
Date of birth (1992-03-13) 13 March 1992[1]
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 158 cm (5 ft 2 in)[1]
Position(s) Left wing
Club information
Current team
 KALG Spor
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
0000 Sunshine Queens
0000–2014 Pelican Stars
2014–2015 FC Minsk 24[2] (27)
2016 Trabzon İdmanocağı 6 (8)
2016–2018 Konak Belediyespor 27 (20)
2018 Ataşehir Belediyespor 7 (4)
2019–2020 Konak Belediyespor 15 (4)
2020– ALG Spor
National team‡
Nigeria 24[3] (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 March 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:03, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

Playing career

Club
Esther Sunday (left) attacking Kireçburnu Spor in the away match of Trabzon İdmanocağı in the 2015–16 Turkish Women's First Football League.
Esther Sunday (red) playing for Konak Belediyespor against Beşiktaş J.K. in the 2017–18 season's away match.

Esther Sunday previously played for the Sunshine Queens and Pelican Stars, both in the Nigerian Women's Championship, before going on to join FC Minsk of the Belarusian Premier League.[4][5] While there, she was among one of three Nigerian internationals in the team when the club won the Premier League, the Belarusian Women's Cup and the Belarusian Women's Super Cup.[6]

In January 2016, she moved to Turkey joining Trabzon İdmanocağı. She appeared in the Turkish Cosmetics 2016 Tournament of the top four teams in the league, where she scored a goal en route to a victory with her new team.[7]

In the beginning of the 2016–17 Women's First League's second half, she transferred to the Izmir-based club Konak Belediyespor.[8] She debuted at the UEFA Women's Champions League, and took part in the three matches of the 2017–18 qualifying round.[9][10][11]

In July 2018, Sunday signed a one-year contract with the Istanbul-based club Ataşehir Belediyespor before the 2017–18 league champion's participation at the 2018–19 UEFA Women's Champions League qualifying round.[12] She played in all three matches of the qualification round, and scored one goal.[13][14][15] In the 2019–20 First League season, she returned to her former club Konak Belediyespor.[8] By October 2020, she transferred to the Gazianyep-based club ALG Spor.[8]

International

Sunday has represented the Nigeria women's national football team at junior levels, being in the squads of the 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup (competition Runners-Up) and 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.[12] At senior level she was part of the squads for the African Women's Championship tournaments in 2010, 2012 and 2014, winning it twice in 2010 and 2014. She was also a member of the team which took part in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, but did not progress past the group stage.[12][16][17]

Career statistics
As of 8 March 2020.
Club Season League Continental National Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Trabzon İdmanocağı 2015–16First League 68––68
Total 68––68
Konak Belediyespor 2016–17First League 1613––1613
2017–18First League 1173000147
Total 272030003020
Ataşehir Belediyespor 2018–19First League 7431105
Total 743100105
Konak Belediyespor 2019–20First League 154--154
Total 154--00154

Honours

Club
Belarusian Premier League
FC Minsk
Winners (1): 2014
Belarusian Women's Cup
FC Minsk
Winners (1): 2014
Belarusian Women's Super Cup
FC Minsk
Winners (1): 2015
Turkish Women's First League
Konak Belediyespor
Winners (1): 2016–17

International
African Women's Championship
Nigeria women's national football team
Winners (3): 2010, 2014, 2016

References
  1. "List of Players – 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. "Sunday profile on Soccerway.com". Official Website of Soccerway.com. Soccerway.com Website. Retrieved 11 October 2014.
  3. "Profile". FIFA.com. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  4. "Minsk Sign Esther Sunday". Si10.ng Website. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  5. "Esther Sunday joins Minsk FC". FCNaija.com. Naija FC Website. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  6. "Nigerian trio help FK Minsk win Belarus Women Super Cup". Goal.com. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  7. "İdmanocağı şampiyon!". Karadeniz'de Son Nokta (in Turkish). 22 January 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  8. "Ukpong Esther Sunday" (in Turkish). Türkiye Futbol Federasyonu. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  9. "Mikheil Meskhi-2 – Tbilisi 22/08/2017 Qualifying – Group 1 Konak-Martve". UEFA. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  10. "David Petriashvili Stadium – Tbilisi 25/08/2017 Qualifying – Group 1 Partizan Bardejov 1–5 Konak". UEFA. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  11. "David Petriashvili Stadium – Tbilisi 25/08/2017 Qualifying – Group 1 Konak 1–3 Gintra". UEFA. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  12. "Falcons star Esther Sunday joins Turkish women champions Ataşehir Belediyespor". Savid News. 4 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  13. "III. Kerületi TVE – Budapest 07/08/2018 Qualifying – Group 4 Slavia Praha 7–2 Ataşehir". UEFA. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  14. "Hidegkúti Nándor – Budapest 10/08/2018 Qualifying – Group 4 Ataşehir (TUR) 2–2 MTK Hungária (HUN)". UEFA. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  15. "III. Kerületi TVE – Budapest 13/08/2018 Qualifying – Group 4 – KFF Mitrovica (KOS) 1–6 Ataşehir (TUR)". UEFA. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  16. "Esther Sunday profile with FIFA". Official FIFA website. FIFA.com website. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
  17. "Minsk release Esther Sunday & Onome Ebi for AWC". Official Goal.com. Goal.com Website. Retrieved 9 October 2014.
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