IWD 2022: Celebrating five Women Legends of the African game

As the theme of this year's International is Breaking the bias, here is a list of five trailblazers in the African female game:

South Africa's Portia Modise is one of the most underrated African players of any gender. She was one of the first female African players in England when she played for Arsenal WFC for half a season in 2003, before moving on to other European teams.

Despite being a trailblazer in club football, it was on the international scene Modise etched her name into the record books.

The former Bayana Bayana forward had featured in the senior team since the age of 16, eventually retiring at the age of 31. She became the first African player to hit 100 international goals, more than Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto'o.

Asides from her impressive showings on the pitch, she was just as massive off it. Following the murder of her teammate Eudy Simelane in 2008, Modise became more vocal for the fair treatment of the LGBT+ community in South Africa and the football world.

Nowadays, Modise is focusing on a foundation she established to create footballing structures for women and girls at a grassroots level.

Perpetua Nkwocha is arguably the greatest Super Falcons player in history.

She made her first appearance for the Falcons in 1999 and represented Nigeria at every tournament the country participated in.

Nkwocha scored 80 goals in her Super Falcons career and also won five African Cup of Nations (2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014), as well as winning the African Women’s Footballer of the Year a record four times (2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011).

Following retirement, Nkwocha was an assistant coach for the Super Falcons at the 2016 and 2018 Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

In 2016, following the migrant crisis in Europe, The Super Falcons legend spent her time coaching a group of Afghan migrants in her Swedish hometown of Skellefteå 2016. 

Widely regarded as one of the greatest African female footballers of all time, Asisat Oshoala deserves her name on this list.

Oshoala is the most decorated African female footballer in history and a joint-record four-time winner of the African Women's Footballer of the Year. 

Oshoala announced herself at the 2014 U20 Women's World Cup in Canada, where she scooped the golden boot and golden ball. 

The 27-year-old has played for some of Europe's top clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal, while she also had a successful stint in China.

Oshoala currently plays for Barcelona Femeni, the best club in the world right now. She won the treble with the club last campaign, and she is the club's current top scorer this season with 23 goals in 25 games.

Asisat has opened her football foundation in Lagos, providing girls with an opportunity to play football professionally.

Oshoala was made a Member of the Order of the Niger by then President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

Current Bayana Bayana coach Desiree Ellis is a legend in South African football.

She didn't make her international debut until she was 30 and scored a hat-trick to silence possible doubters.

Ellis' legendary status was confirmed in 2010 when she was chosen to be an ambassador for the FIFA World Cup in her home country.

In 2016, Ellis was appointed as interim manager of the South Africa women's national football team after the team's group-stage exit at the 2016 Olympics.

Ellis landed the full-time role in February 2018 and coached the team, then ranked 50th in the world, to a defeat in the final of the Africa Women Cup of Nations.

By finishing second, Ellis and South Africa qualified for their first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup in 2019.

In the same year, Ellis was awarded the CAF Women National Team Coach of the Year Award.

Mercy Akide-Udoh is the iconic trailblazer in Nigerian Women's football. Akide-Udoh spent her entire club football career in Nigeria, bursting into the limelight in 1994 when she reportedly scored 49 goals over two seasons. 

She gained national attention at the two Olympic games when she scored four of the Super Falcons' six goals at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. She was also instrumental alongside Perpetua Nkwocha in the Falcons, winning three African Women Cup of Nations.

Akide-Udoh was named the first-ever African Women's Footballer of the Year in 2002.

She was appointed to the International Football Association Board by FIFA in October 2021. 

She currently is Head Women's Soccer Coach at the Regent University in Virginia and is an Assistant Director of Teams/Director of Community Programming for Steel United in the United States of America.