Onome Ebi

Onome Ebi[1] (born 8 May 1983) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Nigerian club Abia Angels and the Nigeria women's national team. In 2023 she became the first African footballer, male or female, to play in 6 FIFA World Cup Tournaments.

Onome Ebi
Personal information
Date of birth (1983-05-08) 8 May 1983[1]
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Centre-back
Team information
Current team
 Abia Angels
Number 3
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2008 Omidiran Babes
2008 Bayelsa Queens
2009 Piteå 6 (1)
2010 Djurgården 16 (0)
2010–2011 Düvenciler Lisesispor 7 (5)
2011–2013 Ataşehir Belediyespor 28 (21)
2013 Sunnanå SK 8 (0)
2014–2016 FC Minsk 37 (7)
2017–2020 Henan Jianye 0 (5)
2021 FC Minsk 19 (4)
2022 Levante Las Planas 1 (0)
International career‡
2003– Nigeria 109[2] (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 3 December 2022
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 10:30, 1 August 2023 (UTC)

Club career

She played for Bayelsa Queens FC in the Nigerian Women's Championship before moving to Piteå IF and Djurgårdens IF in Sweden's Damallsvenskan. Ebi said "I enjoyed my stay in Turkey because of the good weather. Going to Sweden was a different ball game, as the cold weather made it difficult for me to play good football. The amateur nature of the Swedish league made me launch a return to Turkey for Ataşehir Belediyespor FC in the First League."[3]

She then played for Turkish sides Düvenciler Lisesispor and Ataşehir Belediyespor at the First League.[4] She made her Champions League debut in August 2012 while playing for Ataşehir Belediyespor.[5]

Ebi returned to the Swedish Damallsvenskan in 2013 to play for Sunnanå SK before going to Belarus to play for FC Minsk in the Belarusian Premier League.[6] While there, she was a member of the team that won the Belarusian Premier League, the Belarusian Women's Cup and the Belarusian Women's Super Cup twice.[3]

In both club and international competitions, Ebi plays as the number five in the team due to the significance it holds for her. When she arrived at Minsk, the jersey number was already taken, so she asked for the number 55 instead.[3]

She currently plays for Chinese second division side Henan Jianye, where she signed in 2018.

International career

Ebi is a member of the Nigerian national team. On 6 July 2019, she became the first African Footballer to play in five[7] Fifa World Cup Tournaments, taking part in the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015, 2019 editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.[8][9]

Ebi was also a member of the Nigerian squad in the 2008,[10] 2010,[11] 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 editions of the African Women's Championship,[12][13] winning the tournament four times 2010, 2014) 2016 and 2018 .[14][15]

On 16 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player Nigerian squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.[16] It was her sixth tournament.[17]

International goals
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.20 January 2019Wuhua County Olympic Sports Centre, Meizhou, China Romania2–14–12019 Four Nations Tournament
2.6 March 2019Tasos Markos Stadium, Paralimni, Cyprus Thailand2–03–02019 Cyprus Women's Cup
3.11 April 2023Marden Sports Complex, Alanya, Turkey New Zealand1–03–0Friendly

Honours
Ataşehir Belediyespor
  • Turkish Women's First Football League: 2011–12, 2012–13
FC Minsk
Nigeria

Individual

References
  1. "List of Players – 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. "Profile". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
  3. Sotuminu, Dapo (24 April 2016). "Onome Ebi: No Regrets Dropping Out Of School To Play Soccer". New Telegraph. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  4. Nwani, Emeka (14 June 2012). "Super Falcons' Onome Ebi wins Turkish league title". Goal.com. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  5. "Onome Ebi". UEFA. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  6. "Nigerian trio help FK Minsk win Belarus Women Super Cup". Goal.com. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  7. Correspondent. "Nigeria's Onome Ebi makes African history with fifth Women's World Cup appearance | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  8. "FIFA player stats". FIFA. Retrieved 29 June 2015.
  9. Saaid, Hamdan (18 September 2008). "Games of the XXIX. Olympiad". RSSSF. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  10. "Nigeria/Ghana: 2008 African Women Championship – Super Falcons Begin Campaign Against Ghana Today". AllAfrica. 11 November 2008. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  11. "Falcons go headlong for women's title on SuperSport". Bloemfontein Celtic. 28 October 2010. Archived from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  12. "Falcons' Onome Ebi joins other pros in camp". News 24. 16 October 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  13. Ahmadu, Samuel (29 September 2014). "Minsk Release Esther Sunday & Onome Ebi for AWC". Goal.com. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  14. "African International Competitions". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  15. "Nigeria reclaim African women's title". BBC Sport. 25 October 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  16. Ryan Dabbs (14 June 2023). "Nigeria Women's World Cup 2023 squad: most recent call ups". fourfourtwo.com. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  17. "The 40-year-old playing 'unreal' sixth World Cup" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  18. Correspondent. "Onome Ebi wins 2018 NFF Women's Player of the Year award | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  19. "IFFHS Women's CAF Team Decade 2011–2020". The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). 28 January 2021. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  20. "IFFHS All-time Africa Women's Dream Team". The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). 7 June 2021.
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