Nkiru Okosieme

Nkiru Doris "NK" Okosieme (born 1 March 1972) is a former captain of the Nigerian female football team (Super Falcons) football midfielder who played for the Nigeria women's national football team across four FIFA Women's World Cups (1991, 1995, 1999 and 2003), Several African Women Cup of Nations and 2000 Summer Olympics.[1] Okosieme was nicknamed "The Headmistress" for her habit of scoring important goals with her head.[2]

Nkiru Okosieme
Personal information
Full name Nkiru Doris Okosieme
Date of birth (1972-03-01) 1 March 1972
Place of birth Nigeria
Height 167 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000 King Tornado
2001–2004 Clayton State Lakers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
S.C. Imo State
Rivers Angels
2000–2005 Charlotte Lady Eagles
National team
1991–2003 Nigeria
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Okosieme captained Nigeria at the inaugural 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup while still a teenager. She played the full 80 minutes in all three of Nigeria's defeats, while attached to the S.C. Imo State club.[3]

At the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, Okosieme was playing for Rivers Angels.[4] Before the tournament she declared: "We no longer have an inferiority complex".[5] She scored three goals in four games as Nigeria reached the quarter-finals, losing 4–3 to Brazil. Okosieme enjoyed playing in America so much that she joined USL W-League club Charlotte Lady Eagles and enrolled at university, where she played college soccer.[6] The W-league is the highest level for women's soccer in U.S. today. In 2001, "NK" was the second highest goal scorer in NCAA Div II. She has won the Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year, and in the All-Regional team for four years. She was also a NSCAA All-American.

Okosieme has won the Africa Women Cup of Nations with the "Super Falcons" on three occasions in 1998, 2000, 2002 .

Her brother Ndubuisi Okosieme was also an international footballer.[7]

See also

References
  1. FIFA.com
  2. Sadjere, Clement (12 January 2011). "Top 4 Female Nigerian Footballers and Their Nicknames". E-Zine Articles.
  3. "FIFA Women's World Cup China '91 – Technical Report & Statistics" (PDF). FIFA. p. 82. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  4. "OKOSIEME Nkiru". FIFA. Archived from the original on 10 February 2001. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  5. "USA 1999: Nigeria". SoccerTimes.com. Archived from the original on 14 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  6. Jones, Grahame (12 October 2003). "U.S. Is a Shoe-in for Bronze". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  7. Otitoju, Babajide (22 April 2002). "Ndubuisi Okosieme: Abuja's Garincha". allAfrica.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2003. Retrieved 19 June 2016.


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