Wasila Diwura-Soale (born 1 September 1996) is a Ghanaian 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

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 Ghana national team. Diwura-Soale played for Ghana at U-17 level in 2012 and was part of the ''Black Maidens'' squad that placed third at the 2012 World Cup in Azerbaijan. She also featured for the Ghana U-20 team, the ''Black Princesses'', at the 2014 and 2016 World Cups in

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and

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respectively.

Club career

Diwura-Soale started her professional football career with

Ghana Women’s Premier League The Ghana Women’s Premier League (GWPL), also known as the Guinness Ghana Breweries, Malta Guinness Women's Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was launched in 2012 as the National Women's League (NWL) and is a top division league for women ...

club

Hasaacas Ladies Sekondi Hasaacas Ladies F.C. is a Ghanaian professional women's football club based in Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana. The club features in the Ghana Women’s Premier League. The club was formed as a women's club by Sekondi Has ...

. During her time with the club, she won the league in three consecutive seasons between 2012 and 2015. During her time she played along players like

Jennifer Cudjoe Jennifer Cudjoe (born 7 March 1994) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for DC Power FC in the USL Super League and the Ghana women's national football team, Ghana women's national team. Club career Cudjoe signed a ...

, Janet Egyir, Elizabeth Cudjoe and Lily Niber-Lawrence. Diwura-Soale played for Wake FC during the

2022 USL W League season The 2022 USL W League season is the first season of USL W League. The regular season began on May 6 and ended on July 10. 44 teams participated in this inaugural season. Indy Eleven won the first game in league history, defeating Kings Hammer ...

. On 10 June 2024, it was announced that Diwura-Soale had signed with

Tampa Bay Sun Tampa Bay Sun FC is an American professional women's soccer club based in Tampa, Florida, that competes in the USL Super League (USLS). Sun FC is owned by real estate developer and investor Darryl Shaw, Bern's Steak House owner David Laxer, and ...

ahead of the inaugural

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

season.

College career

Navarro Bulldogs, 2017–2018

In 2017, Diwura-Soale moved to the

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at the back of her performances with the Ghana U20 at the

2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 8th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international Women's association football, women's youth association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national te ...

. She joined

Navarro College Navarro College is a public community college in Texas with its main campus in Corsicana and branches in Mexia, Midlothian, and Waxahachie. The college has an annual student enrollment of more than 9,000 students. The Corsicana campus has ...

Corsicana, Texas Corsicana is a city in and the county seat of Navarro County, Texas, United States. It is located on Interstate 45, 50 miles southeast of Dallas, Texas, Dallas. Its population was 25,109 at the 2020 census. Corsicana is considered an important ...

, for head coach Alicia Wilson. Wilson convinced Diwura-Soale to pursue a degree as part of her preparations into going professional after she had wanted to pursue a professional football career right away. In her first season, she accumulated 36 points in the as she scored 12 goals including 4 match winning goals and made 12 assists in 17 games. The following season, she improved on her previous season by accumulating 52 points through 18 goals including 5 match winning goals and 16 assists in 19 games to help them reach the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions across 24 states ...

(NJCAA). Her most notable performance was on 5 September 2018 when she scored five goals and made three assists in a 11–0 victory over

Northeast Texas Northeast Texas is a cultural and geographic region in the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. Geographically centered on two metropolitan areas strung along Interstate 20— Tyler in the west and Kilgore, Longview, Marshall to the eas ...

. In her two-year stint with the ''Bulldogs'', she was a two-time, NJCAA First Team All-American, making her only the third Navarro player in history to earn that honour. In total she accumulated 88 points, scored 30 goals, nine game-winning goals and made 28 assists in 36 games in her two seasons at Navarro. In May 2018, she made Navarro College spring President’s and Dean’s Lists for her academic achievement.

Lamar Lady Cardinals, 2019

After two seasons with Navarro, she transferred to

Lamar University Lamar University (Lamar or LU) is a public university in Beaumont, Texas, United States. Lamar has been a member of the Texas State University System since 1995. It was the flagship institution of the former Lamar University System. As of the ...

where she joined the Lamar Lady Cardinals in 2019. She had a good start at Lamar by starting in the first four matches and providing one assist however her season was curtailed after she picked up an injury that side lined her for the rest of the 2019 season. During her recovery period she considered quitting football.

LSU Tigers, 2020–2022

In May 2020, she transferred to

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

and joined the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

team, becoming the first African football player to play for the Tigers. She made an immediate impact on the team in her first season, playing 19 games whilst making 4 assists, the highest on the team. In August 2021, she graduated from Louisiana State University with a bachelor's degree in humanities and social science. Diwura-Soale graduated with a degree in interdisciplinary studies in August 2021.

International career

Youth

Diwura-Soale made her youth debut for Ghana for the under-17s in 2012. In October 2012, Diwura-Soale was part of the Ghana under-17 team who finished in third place by beating

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the third place match at the

2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the third edition of the women's football tournament, and was held in Azerbaijan from 22 September to 13 October, following a decision by the executive committee on 19 March 2010. Defending champions Sou ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

. At the competition she played five out of the six games. In 2014, she was part of the Under-20 team that played at the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. I ...

. The following year, Diwura-Soale played a key role in

2015 African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament The 2015 African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament was the 8th edition of the African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament, the biennial international youth football competition organised by the Confederation of African Footbal ...

, helping Ghana to qualify for the

. She made the final squad for the world cup and played in all three group stage matches as Ghana were eliminated at that stage.

Senior

In July 2016, Diwura-Soale was called up to the senior team by

Yusif Basigi Yusif Basigi (born 1 March 1972) is a Ghanaian professional football manager who currently coaches the Simba Queens and the Ghana women's national under-20 football team. He previously coached former Ghana Premier League team; Sekondi Hasaaca ...

for a friendly match against Germany. On 22 July 2016, she made her debut for the ''Black Queens'' in a humiliating 11–0 defeat to

, she started the match, played 51 minutes before being substituted for

Mary Essiful Mary Essiful (born 22 June 1993) is a Ghanaian footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Ghana women's national football team. She was part of the team at the 2014 African Women's Championship. On club level she played for Soccer Intellectua ...

. After a four-year national hiatus, Diwura-Soale earned a call up to senior national team in July 2021 ahead of the Aisha Buhari Cup and 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifiers against

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, ...

. She played the first match of the

Aisha Buhari Cup Aisha Buhari Invitational tournament is a football tournament organized by the Nigeria Football Federation for the female national team. History The Inaugural edition was held in Lagos with both FIFA and CAF president honoring the event The Sout ...

against South African women's national team on 17 September 2021, which Ghana lost by 3–0.

Honours

Hasaacas Ladies *

Ghana Women's Premier League The Ghana Women’s Premier League (GWPL), also known as the Malta Guinness Women's Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was launched in 2012 as the National Women's League (NWL) and is a top division league for women's soccer in Ghana. In No ...

: 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15 Tampa Bay Sun *

: 2024–25 Ghana U17 *

FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an annual (biennial until 2024) international women's association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA) ...

third place:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Individual *

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

All-Region Team:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

* All- SEC Second Team: 2022 *

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

First Team All-American: 2017, 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Diwura-Soale, Wasila 1996 births Living people Footballers from Tamale, Ghana Ghanaian women's footballers 21st-century Ghanaian sportswomen Ghana women's international footballers Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Ghanaian expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Hasaacas Ladies F.C. players Lamar Lady Cardinals soccer players Louisiana State University alumni LSU Tigers women's soccer players Navarro Bulldogs women's soccer players Women's association football midfielders Tampa Bay Sun FC players USL W League players Women's Premier Soccer League players USL Super League players