The reigning African Women’s Footballer of the Year, Asisat Oshoala, is set to lead expansion club Bay FC in their inaugural National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) match against Angel City FC in the early hours of Monday morning.
After a five-year stint at Barcelona where she scored an impressive 117 goals across all competitions, the 29-year-old Nigerian striker joined Bay FC on a reported contract worth $162,000.
Oshoala is not the only big name signing for the new NWSL franchise. Bay has also brought in Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for a world record $785,000 transfer fee, as well as Deyna Castellanos from Manchester City and Jen Beattie from Arsenal. The club has invested heavily in building a competitive roster for their first season.
Oshoala made history by becoming the first African woman to win the UEFA Women’s Champions League, achieving this remarkable feat in both 2021 and 2023. The former Barcelona star’s prolific goalscoring record speaks for itself, with her recent season tallies of 23 goals in 2022/2023, 20 goals in 2021/2022 and 19 goals in 2020/2021 underlining her elite ability in front of goal.
The highly anticipated match between Bay and Angel City FC will take place at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. However, this is not the first time the two California rivals have faced each other, as they previously played out a 0-0 draw during the Coachella Valley Invitational pre-season tournament earlier this year.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
