Francisca Ordega (born 19 October 1993) is a Nigerian professional

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 plays as a forward for

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad may refer to: Sports Football Men Teams * Al-Ittihad Club (Jeddah), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia * Al Ittihad SCSC (Tripoli), Tripoli, Libya * Al Ittihad Gheryan, Gharyan, Libya * Al Ittihad Misurata SC, Misurata, Libya * Al Ittihad SC ...

. She represents

Nigeria women's national football team The Nigeria women's national football team, nicknamed the Super Falcons, represents Nigeria in international women's association football, women's football and is controlled by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). The team is Africa's most s ...

(Super Falcons) at both the

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

and

African Women's Championship The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies Women's Africa Cup of Nations and formerly the African Women's Championship, is a biennial international women's football tournament organized by t ...

. She has been nominated for the best female African footballer.

Playing career

Club

Bayelsa Queens

Ordega began her career at the youth level for Bayelsa Queens, before being promoted to the professional side in 2008 where she played at Nigerian Women's Championship.

Rivers Angels

In 2011, she moved to Rivers Angels, one of the top clubs in Nigerian Women's Championship.

WFC Rossiyanka

In 2012, Ordega left

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 Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

to sign with Russian champions Rossiyanka of the

Russian Women's Football Championship The Russian Women's Football Championship (), also known as the Top Division and the Women's Football League, is the highest professional women's association football, football league in Russia. The Top Division was founded in 1992. Prior to the ...

. In November 2012, it was announced that Ordega and Rossiyanka had mutually parted ways.

Piteå IF

In 2013, Ordega signed for

Piteå IF Piteå Idrottsförening (), commonly known as Piteå IF (), is a Swedish football club located in Piteå that currently competes in Sweden's top-division women's league, Damallsvenskan, which it won in 2018. History The sports club Piteå IF ...

in the Swedish

Damallsvenskan The (; ), known as OBOS for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is one of the best women's leagues in the world, and was founded in 1988. The division consists of a league of 14 teams. From 2013, t ...

. She scored her first goal on 26 May 2013 in a draw against

Vittsjö GIK Vittsjö Gymnastik- och Idrottsklubb is a association football, football club from Vittsjö, Sweden. They play in the highest level of women's football leagues in Sweden, the Damallsvenskan. Vittsjö GIK play their home games at Vittsjö IP in Vi ...

. Between 2013 and 2015, she made 34 appearances and scored 4 goals during her time in Sweden.

Washington Spirit

Ordega then moved across the North Atlantic and signed with

Washington Spirit The Washington Spirit are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It is a continuation of the D.C. United Women of the USL W-League (1995� ...

in the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

. In her first season with the Spirit, Ordega scored three goals and made two assists. She returned in

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

to score two goals during the regular season. The Nigerian's most memorable Spirit goal came in the NWSL Semifinal when she scored in extra time to send the Spirit to its first ever NWSL Championship. In July 2017, Ordega suffered a knee injury that would limit her minutes for the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Despite the injury, she would still earn 14 appearances and scoring 4 goals.

=Loan to Sydney FC

= In December 2016,

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

signed Ordega on loan from Washington for the remainder of the 2016–17 W-League season. The loan made her the first African to play in the Australian W-League. Ordega would make six appearances and score once helping Sydney earn 3rd place in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

=Loan to Atlético Madrid

= On 20 October 2017, Ordega joined Spanish club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

on a six-month loan from Washington. She made her debut on 1 November 2017 against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

=Move to Shanghai WFC

= Ordega secured a one-year move to Shanghai WFC

= Levante UD

= In April 2021, Ordega signed a deal with

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

running until 2023, in an attempt to boost their pursuit of qualifying for Champions League football for the first time in their history. Ordega made her debut on 22 May 2021 against

Madrid CFF Madrid Club de Fútbol Femenino (; ''Madrid Women's Football Club'') is a Spanish women's football club based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, that currently plays in Liga F. History Madrid CFF was founded in 2010 by Alfredo ...

, coming an as a substitute in the 67th minute in a 3–2 victory.

International career

Ordega represented the

in all levels. With the under 17, she played the

2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup women's football tournament was the second such tournament, and was held in Trinidad and Tobago from 5 to 25 September 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in ...

and with the under 20 at

2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 6th edition of the tournament. The tournament was played in Japan from 19 August to 8 September with sixteen national football teams and marked the first hosting of a FIFA women's tournament in the co ...

. At senior level she played in the

tournaments of

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. At the latter she opened her World Cup account by scoring Nigeria's equalizing goal against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 8 June 2015 in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, Canada. The pulsating match ended 3–3 in the opening game of Group D. She was also part of Nigeria's squads at the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, winning both tournaments. In 2018, She was also a member of the Nigerian squad who won the

2018 Africa Women Cup of Nations The 2018 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (officially known as the Total Women's Africa Cup Of Nations, Ghana 2018) was the 13th edition of the Africa Women Cup of Nations (formerly African Women's Championship), the biennial international football ...

in Ghana, A tournament where she had two goals and two assists and won the woman of the match award at the final game against South Africa. She was part of the Super Falcons squad that won the

2021 Turkish Women's Cup The 2021 Turkish Women's Cup, also named ''Festival Women's Trophy 2021'', was the fifth edition of the Turkish Women's Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Turkey. It took place between 17 and 23 February in Antalya. ...

Antalya, Turkey Antalya is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey and the capital of Antalya Province. Recognized as the "capital of tourism" in Turkey and a pivotal part of the Turkish Riviera, Antalya sits on Anato ...

in February and thereby becoming the first African team to win the invitational tournament. On 16 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player Nigerian squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

International goals

''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first''

Honours

; Rivers Angels * Nigerian Women's Cup: 2012 ; Atlético Madrid * Primera División: 2017–18 ; Nigeria *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

References

External links

* * * (2013) * (2014)
Profile
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ordega, Francisca 1993 births Living people People from Gboko Footballers from Benue State Nigerian women's footballers Nigeria women's international footballers Piteå IF (women) players WFC Rossiyanka players Washington Spirit players Sydney FC (women) players Atlético Madrid Femenino players National Women's Soccer League players Women's association football forwards 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Liga F players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Damallsvenskan players Nigerian expatriate women's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate women's footballers in Russia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate women's soccer players in Australia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate women's footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate women's footballers in China Bayelsa Queens F.C. players Rivers Angels F.C. players 21st-century Nigerian sportswomen 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players