FIFA Celebrates Oshoala’s Defining U-20 World Cup Campaign

Asisat Oshoala’s seven-goal run at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup remains one of the tournament’s defining individual performances. FIFA has revisited the campaign in a feature that recalls how the Nigerian forward announced herself on the global stage in Canada.

Oshoala scored once in the group stage, then exploded in the knockout rounds. She scored twice against New Zealand in the quarter-final and four times against DPR Korea in the semi-final. Nigeria eventually lost the final 1-0 to Germany, but Oshoala left with both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball.

Her seven goals rank joint-fourth for a single edition of the tournament, alongside Korea DPR’s Kim Un-Hwa. Christine Sinclair and Alexandra Popp share the record with 10 goals each, scored in 2002 and 2010. Oshoala remains the only African player to win the tournament’s Golden Boot.

The Canadian tournament quickly became a launchpad for her senior career. Two months later, she won her first Women’s Africa Cup of Nations title with Nigeria. She then made her senior World Cup debut at Canada 2015 and scored in Nigeria’s 3-3 draw with Sweden.

Oshoala later scored a memorable goal against the Republic of Korea at France 2019 as Nigeria reached the knockout stage for the first time since 1999. In 2023, her goal against co-hosts Australia made her the first African player to score in three different editions of the Women’s World Cup. Now 31, she has also played for Liverpool, Arsenal, Dalian Quanjian, Barcelona, Bay FC and Al Hilal. She has won six African Women’s Footballer of the Year awards and four WAFCON titles, and has scored 40 goals in 74 appearances for Nigeria.