Renowned Nigerian football superstar Asisat Lamina Oshoala has moved on from Barcelona after five years with the club.
The former Arsenal and Liverpool player will depart to the United States’s National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) outfit Bay FC, after the expiration of her contract with Barcelona in June 2024.
Oshoala signed a deal with Bay FC until 2026, with an option to extend the contract by one season. The Californian club was founded in April 2023, and will commence their debut NWSL campaign in March 2024.
The 29-year-old Super Falcons striker explained her decision to exit the Spanish club while speaking on the “Attacking Third” Podcast.
“I stayed five years in Barcelona and that’s the longest I’ve stayed in a club, to be honest. I feel I just want to change, I want to try something different. I just want to have fun and also when I was presented the project of this club, I liked it and I decided to go for it,” she said.
Oshoala spent five highly successful years in Barcelona, proving her exceptional skills and winning spirit. Having scored 107 goals in 149 appearances for the club, she became the fourth-highest goal scorer in the history of the club.
“To have the opportunity to add a player of Asisat’s quality, experience and winning pedigree to our roster is an exciting and important day for the club and the NWSL.
“She brings a top-class mentality to the field combined with pace and technical ability that allows her to lead the line, while also giving those players around her the license to be creative and thrive in space. Asisat is a proven goal scorer at the most elite levels of World football, and she comes here to continue that with Bay FC,” Bay FC general manager Lucy Rushton said.
The football star has her name permanently inked in football history, and has won multiple awards. In 2021, she became the first African woman to win the UEFA Champions League final. She is also a six-time winner of the CAF Awards for African Best Player female category.
A strong advocate for girl-child education and empowerment, Oshoala launched a football academy, the Asisat Oshoala Academy, to bring up young and talented African females into the world of sports.