Florence Kikelomo Ajayi is a former Nigerian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender.

Career

Ajayi started her career in the Nigerian Championship for teams including Koko Queens,

Rivers Angels Rivers Angels F.C. (formerly Larry Angels F.C.) is a Nigerian professional football club based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in Nigeria. They play in the Nigeria Women Premier League, the top flight in the national female soccer league pyramid ...

, Jagede Babes and the

Pelican Stars Pelican Stars F.C. is a professional women's association football club based in Calabar, Cross River State. Founded in 1990, they play in the Nigeria Women's Football League Championship, the second division for women's football in the country. ...

. Following her participation in the 1999 World Cup she signed for 1. FFC 08 Niederkirchen in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

, where she spent two full seasons. She later returned to Nigeria, playing for the Police Machine and the

Bayelsa Bayelsa is a state in the South South region of Nigeria, located in the core of the Niger Delta. Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and was carved out from Rivers State, making it one of the newest states in the federation. The capital, Yenagoa, ...

Queen. She continued playing there until 2008, when she relocated to the

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club (), previously Tianjin TEDA (), is a Chinese professional football club based in Tianjin, that competes in . Tianjin Jinmen Tiger plays its home matches at the TEDA Soccer Stadium, located within Binhai. The f ...

within the

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. In 2010, she returned to the

European leagues European Leagues (EL) is a sports organisation within association football created for growth of professional football in Europe. Its members are the professional football leagues organisations of 31 countries: Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bu ...

, playing for Slovenia's

Krka Novo Mesto Košarkarski klub Krka (English: Basketball Club Krka), commonly referred to as KK Krka or simply Krka, is a Slovenian professional basketball team based in Novo Mesto that competes in the Slovenian First League and the ABA League. They play thei ...

, Poland's

Pogoń Szczecin Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Pogoń Szczecin (), is a Polish professional football club based in Szczecin, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, which plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league s ...

, and Spain's Dínamo Guadalajara.

International

As a member of the Nigerian national team, Ajayi won a total of five consecutive

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

between 1998 and 2006. She also competed in the

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and in the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. During the events, she served as the

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

women's team captain.

National Mirror The ''National Mirror'' is a daily newspaper published in Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Oce ...

Notes

References

1977 births Living people Women's association football defenders Nigerian women's footballers 21st-century Nigerian sportswomen Sportspeople from Akure Nigeria women's international footballers 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic footballers for Nigeria Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Bayelsa Queens F.C. players Pelican Stars F.C. players Rivers Angels F.C. players ŽNK Krka players Frauen-Bundesliga players 1. FFC 08 Niederkirchen players Pogoń Szczecin (women) players Ekstraliga (women's football) players Nigerian expatriate women's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate women's footballers in China Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Expatriate women's footballers in Slovenia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate women's footballers in Poland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain {{Nigeria-women-footy-bio-stub