Nearly everywhere she has played, Asisat Oshoala has lifted a trophy.
After winning titles in Africa, Europe and Asia, Oshoala is now stateside, where the six-time African Football Player of the Year and two-time Ballon d’Or Award finalist is hoping to propel Bay FC to the top of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Oshoala, 29, finally joined the expansion team this week and has begun practicing with the club at its San Jose State University training ground. Bay FC begins its season March 17 at Angel City.
“I’m not here to chill or enjoy the weather, I’m here to win trophies,” she said Friday in her first appearance with Bay Area media. “Every club I played for except Liverpool, I made sure I won trophies before leaving. This is the same thing I want to do with Bay FC.”
Oshoala was one of the club’s final additions, and one of its best.
She scored 107 goals in 149 appearances over five seasons with Barcelona, where she helped the club win the UEFA Women’s Champions League twice and finished 14 trophies before she departed.
She made clear that it wasn’t an easy decision to leave one of the world’s top clubs to join an expansion team in the NWSL, but the decision was about more than just soccer. She said she’s hoping to be a better role model for the children who are part of her Asisat Oshoala Foundation, which focuses on empowering girls in Africa.
“I have a foundation and a lot of kids who look up to me so I feel like if I want to talk to a younger person coming from my own academy, I want to talk based on experience so it’s easier for me to talk with them and advise them,” she said. “I did five years in England, two years in Asia and now I want to know what it feels like in this region of the world.”
Oshoala, the first African women’s footballer to have 1 million followers on Instagram, said she has gotten pretty good at adjusting to new cultures.
“Be yourself, try to be nice to everyone around you, try to teach everyone, be open to listen to things from other people and hopefully people are open to listening to things from you as well,” she said.
She’ll have a pair of African teammates in Princess Marfo and Racheal Kundananji. Kundananji set the world record with a transfer fee of almost $800,000 when she joined Bay FC from Madrid.
“The club made an amazing investment and I can tell you this team is building something really special,” Oshoala said. “That’s enough to motivate any player with a vision to put three times effort to make sure we get something out of this season.”
Kundananji was injured last week in an international match for Zambia and was carted off the field with a knee injury, though her injury is not expected to keep her out long-term.
If healthy, Oshoala and Kundananji should feature heavily in Bay FC’s attack, which is centered around possession and creativity.
“We played in Spain and competed for top scorer in the season a lot of times,” Oshoala said. “I think she’s an amazing person, an amazing individual.”
Oshoala said the vision of head coach Albertin Montoya is one of the reasons she wanted to join the club.
“I like how Albertin wants to play,” she said. “My teammates have also accepted the style of football even if they are coming from a different region playing a different style. Now people are trying to change their mindset.
“This league is getting better compared to where it was five years ago. I want to be part of something new, something special. More players talking about the league and that’s great.”
Oshoala didn’t expect her celebrity status to transfer so quickly to the United States, but she said she was recognized when she went to the Warriors game on Wednesday night. Along with new teammate Deyna Castellanos, Oshoala met Steph Curry and exchanged uniforms with the NBA legend.
For Bay FC, “there’s a big fan base already,” Oshoala said. “It’s going to get a lot of attention and support from the people. We’ll see how this season goes. The first game will have a different amount of supporters compared to what we have in the middle of the season.”