Ini-Abasi Anefiok Umotong (born 15 May 1994) is a Nigerian

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Early life

Born in Calabar, Nigeria, Umotong alongside her family moved to Birmingham, England when she was one year old. She is the youngest of six siblings born to Dr Ben Anefiok and Grace Umotong of Ikono in Old Cross River State. She began playing football at the age of five and it was in Primary school where she was spotted by Birmingham City in 2003. She later attended the selective King Edward VI Five Ways Grammar School.

International career

She earned her first call up to the

Super Falcons 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 ...

in February, 2015 when coach Edwin Okon invited 36 players to camp to prepare for the 11th All-Africa Games qualifiers, 2016 Olympic Games qualifiers and the 7th FIFA Women’s World Cup finals. The Economics and Actuarial Science undergraduate at the University of Southampton had to skip the first two weeks of the camp in Abuja due to her studies. On arrival after two weeks, promising Umotong got her first taste of action almost immediately as a late substitute in a warm-up 1–1 draw against a male academy team, showing true dedication in her quest to make the team for Canada 2015. She followed it up with a goal when she came on for 20 minutes in another tune-up match against

Nigeria Women Premier League The NWFL Premiership (formerly Nigeria Women Premier League) is the top-level league for women's association football in Nigeria. It is the women's equivalent of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for male players. The Nigeria Wome ...

side,

Confluence Queens Confluence Queens F.C. sometimes referred to as Wada Queens and Kogi Confluence Queens is a Nigerian women's association football club based in Lokoja, Kogi State. They play their home games at Confluence Stadium, and compete in the Nigeria Wom ...

, before becoming the first Portsmouth player to feature in a full international after making her 33-minute debut for Nigeria in the first leg of their All-Africa Games qualifier against

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

Bamako Bamako is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2022 population of 4,227,569. It is located on the Niger River, near the rapids that divide the upper and middle Niger valleys in the southwestern part of the country. Bamak ...

. She was eventually named in the 23-player list for the World Cup in Canada but did not feature in any of Nigeria's three group matches as the African Champions failed to progress to the knockout stage. In January 2019 at the Four Nations Tournament in China, Umotong scored her first goal for the Super Falcons. She emerged from the substitute's bench to register the final goal in a 4–1 win over

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. "One of the stand-out moments of my career," she said.

Club career

Umotong's phenomenal first season (2014–15) at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

has opened the path for her international career, after her goal scoring exploits led the

FA Women's Premier League Southern Division The FA Women's National League South is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and below the Women's Super Le ...

side to win their seventh successive Hampshire County Cup and the league title, while narrowly missing out on promotion to the FA Women's Super League 2. With 29 goals in 25 league and cup matches, Umotong emerged top goal scorer for Pompey. In February 2016, Umotong left Portsmouth for

FA WSL 2 The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

. Oxford manager Les Taylor was pleased with the signing: "Ini is a striker who possesses both power and pace." She had scored 25 goals for Portsmouth during the first part of 2015–16. With Oxford Umotong continued to score regularly, finishing FA WSL 2 top-goalscorer with 13 goals in 19 appearances, before adding four goals in seven appearances in the

FA WSL Spring Series The FA WSL 1 Spring Series was an interim edition of the FA WSL between the sixth and seventh full seasons. The Spring Series ran from February to May 2017 to bridge the gap from the 2016 FA WSL season which ran from March to September as a summer ...

. After a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

in July 2017, Umotong scored eight league goals to help the Seagulls finish second in the re-branded second tier (now known as the

FA Women's Championship The Women's Super League 2, also known as Barclays Women's Super League 2 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in England, operated by WSL Football. It is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The div ...

). When Brighton successfully bid for a franchise in the top division, Umotong was one of the club's existing players to be kept on. She hailed the influence of Brighton

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell (born 8 December 1966) is an English football coach and former player who is the Women's Technical Director at Birmingham City. As a player, Powell won 72 caps for England, mainly as an attacking midfielder, scoring 17 goal ...

, crediting the former

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

manager with a dramatic improvement in her game.

Personal life

Before becoming a full-time footballer with Brighton, Umotong combined her football career with her studies for an

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

degree at the

University of Southampton The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public university, public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universit ...

. She graduated with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

and claimed to have been inspired by fellow British-Nigerian footballer

Eniola Aluko Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a British football executive, football broadcaster and former professional player who played as a winger and striker. Aluko has been a regular broadcaster for live football on ITV, BT Sport, Amazon Prim ...

Honours

Portsmouth F.C. Women *

(1): 2015 * Hampshire County Cup (1): 2015

References

External links

*
Profile
at

Portsmouth FC Portsmouth Football Club is a professional association football club based in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The team is currently competing in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system in the 2024–25 ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Umotong, Iniabasi 1994 births Living people Nigeria women's international footballers Nigerian women's footballers 21st-century Nigerian sportswomen Wright State Raiders women's soccer players Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom People from Calabar FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football forwards Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Oxford United W.F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. Women players Alumni of the University of Southampton Nigerian expatriate women's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Lewes F.C. Women players Women's Super League 2 players Växjö DFF players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Damallsvenskan players Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden