Mercy Joy Akide Udoh (; born 26 August 1975) is a Nigerian former

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for the

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 ...

Early life

Mercy started playing football at the age of five with her oldest brother Seleipiri and younger brother Ipali in the sandy field of Bundu Waterside, near Port Harcourt Prisons in

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

. Her speed was recognized from a young age, and when she was 12 years old, at Holy Rosary Secondary School in Port Harcourt, she took part in long-distance races, running the 400m, 800m and 1500m races against older competitors. She was also a regional

table tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

champion, but

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

was the sport where she really stood out. Mercy earned the nickname "Ske", which in local parlance meant "skinny", while playing against boys at Mile 1 in Port Harcourt. Among her many admirers then was a young kid called

Chidi Odiah Chukwudi "Chidi" Odiah (born 17 December 1983) is a Nigerian former professional association football, footballer who played as a right-back. A former international, he was known for his work ethic, skills and attacking prowess. Club career Eag ...

, who is now a full Nigeria international, playing club football with

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. In consideration of her skills in particular, a group of youth soccer organisers put together a girls'

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

to select the girls who would become "the Garden City Queens". After two years of playing for the Queens, and turning down the overtures of the rival Port Harcourt-based Larry's Angels, Akide left Port Harcourt for

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

to continue both education and soccer with Jegede Babes under the influence of Princess Bola Jegede.

Career

Garden City Queens

At that time, the Nigerian Women's league was in its formative years and Garden City Queens was not among the top teams such as Jegede Babes, Ufuoma Babes and Larry's Angels. The club played mostly

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

s around the state with Akide as the star attraction. She averaged nearly five goals per game during the two years she spent at the club. One of those friendly games was against elite team Jegede Babes, and although the Queens lost 6–1, Akide scored the only goal for her side. Club proprietor Princess Bola Jegede was so impressed by her that she promptly offered her a place in her club.

Jegede Babes

Akide joined Jegede Babes just as Nigeria were taking part in the inaugural Women's World Cup in China in 1991. With an already established strike force in place, Akide was moved to central midfield for the 1992 season where she took time to adjust. But by the 1993 season, she emerged highest goalscorer in both league and Cup. She plundered 16 goals in the league and another 8 in the Challenge Cup. She took the form into the next

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 ...

, scoring 15 goals in the 1994 league season and 10 in the Challenge Cup to earn herself a call-up to coach Ismaila Mabo's national camp. Unfortunately, her goals were not enough to help Jegede to either title.

Ufuoma Babes

After returning from the 1995

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 ...

, Akide (who had by now earned the nickname of Marvelous) pitched tent with Warri-based club Ufuoma Babes, who had won the league and Cup double in the previous two years. It was to be a rewarding move. Her 17 goals in the league and 9 in the Challenge Cup helped Ufuoma to the double. It was the first of many titles. The next season, she hit 11 league goals and 10 Challenge Cup goals and Ufuoma Babes continued their dominance of the domestic league. Akide still finished with the top goalscoring honours in 1997. She scored 14 league goals and 8 Challenge Cup goals as Ufuoma romped to their fourth consecutive double. Pelican Stars dethroned Ufuoma Babes in both the league and Cup in 1998 with Akide scoring a disappointing 10 league goals and 7 in the Challenge Cup.

Pelican Stars

Akide spent only one year with Pelican Stars, but it was a rewarding year,

trophy A trophy is a tangible, decorative item used to remind of a specific achievement, serving as recognition or evidence of merit. Trophies are most commonly awarded for sports, sporting events, ranging from youth sports to professional level athlet ...

wise. Pelican again won the double even though Akide only managed 9 league goals and 6 Challenge Cup goals. By the time the season was over, Akide had earned a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

to Milligan College in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, United States, after a scintillating World Cup performance with the Super Falcons. In her only season at the school, she recorded 42 goals and 15 assists, setting a record for goals and points (99) in a season.

International career

Her two seasons of consistency with Jegede Babes, where she scored a total of 49 goals in two seasons, caught the attention of national coach Ismaila Mabo and Mercy was called to camp in 1994. But another rush of goals, 17 in the league and 9 in the Challenge Cup earned her a recall. Her international debut came soon after, a World Cup qualifier against

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the List of Nigerian cities by population, third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano (city), Kano, with a total populatio ...

with Mercy playing as a winger. She marked it with two goals. She scored one more in the return leg to cement her place in the team. In 2001, she was named the first African Women Footballer of the Year, and was a 1999 and 2004 FIFA World All-Star. She has played for Nigeria in three FIFA Women's World Cups and also helped Nigeria's Super Falcons to three African Women Championships (AWC) titles in 1998, 2000 and 2002. In November 2004, she married football

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Colin Udoh in her home town of

. In 2005, she was named by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

as one of its 15 Ambassadors for Women Football.

Coaching career

Between 2006 and 2008, Mercy was employed at Stars Soccer Club, where she was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for Stars U-16 Athena C Gold Girls and worked within Youth Development (an NGO also employing her friend Luke Concannon, a coach of the U-13 girls team.) From 2008 to 2013, Mercy worked as the co-director of Youth Development and for Beach FC in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach (colloquially VB) is the most populous city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. The city is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in southeastern Virginia. It is the sixth-most populous city in the ...

. In 2013, Mercy joined the coaching staff of Virginia Rush Soccer Club, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Honours

Individual * IFFHS All-time Africa Women's Dream Team: 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akide, Mercy 1975 births Living people Nigerian women's footballers 21st-century Nigerian sportswomen Nigeria women's international footballers Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Nigeria 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's United Soccer Association players San Diego Spirit players Footballers from Port Harcourt Women's association football midfielders Milligan University alumni Nigerian expatriate women's footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States African Women's Footballer of the Year winners Hampton Roads Piranhas players College women's soccer players in the United States