Mercy Akide, nicknamed “Marvellous Mercy”, is a retired Nigerian skilled footballer born on August 26, 1975, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria.
Rising up in a football-crazed nation, Akide’s profession started on the dusty fields of Port Harcourt, the place her sheer ability immediately distinguished her. She didn’t merely play soccer; she lived it, exemplifying the heart and aptitude that distinguish Nigerian athletes.
Akide rose to fame as a ahead for Nigeria’s ladies’s nationwide group, the Tremendous Falcons, in addition to quite a few Nigerian and worldwide golf equipment. She swiftly rose to prominence, changing into one among Africa’s most embellished feminine soccer gamers.
Mercy Akide Biography
Mercy started taking part in soccer on the age of 5 together with her older brother Seleipiri and youthful brother Ipali within the sandy pitch of Bundu Waterside, close to Port Harcourt Prisons in Port Harcourt. Her tempo was recognised at a younger age, and when she was 12, she competed in long-distance races at Holy Rosary Secondary College in Port Harcourt, operating the 400m, 800m, and 1500m in opposition to older competitors. She was additionally a provincial desk tennis winner, however soccer was the place she really shone.
Mercy gained the nickname “Ske” (which suggests “skinny” in native jargon) whereas taking part in in opposition to guys at Mile 1 in Port Harcourt. Amongst her many admirers again then was a younger man named Chidi Odiah, who’s now a full Nigerian worldwide and performs membership soccer for CSKA Moscow.
In recognition of her talents, a gaggle of younger soccer organisers organised a ladies’ match to find out the ladies who would develop into ‘the Backyard Metropolis Queens’.
After two years of taking part in for the Queens and turning down overtures from the rival Port Harcourt-based Larry’s Angels, Akide moved to Lagos to finish his research and play soccer with the Jegede Babes, influenced by Princess Bola Jegede.
Profession
The Nigerian Ladies’s League was in its early phases on the time, and Backyard Metropolis Queens was not among the many finest groups, which included Jegede Babes, Ufuoma Babes, and Larry’s Angels. The membership primarily performed exhibition video games all through the state, with Akide because the lead attraction.
She scored over 5 targets per recreation all through her two years on the membership. A type of pleasant video games was in opposition to elite group Jegede Babes, and regardless of the Queens’ 6-1 defeat, Akide scored the one purpose for her group.
Princess Bola Jegede, the membership’s proprietor, was so taken together with her that she instantly gave her a place in her institution. Akide joined the Jegede Babes simply as Nigeria competed within the inaugural Ladies’s World Cup in China in 1991. With a well-established strike pressure in place, Akide was shifted to central midfield for the 1992 season, the place she wanted time to regulate.
Nevertheless, by the 1993 season, she had scored probably the most targets in each the league and the cup. She scored 16 targets within the league and one other eight within the Problem Cup. She carried her type into the next season, netting 15 league targets and 10 within the Problem Cup to achieve a call-up to teach Ismaila Mabo’s nationwide camp. Sadly, her targets had been inadequate to assist Jegede win both title.
After getting back from the 1995 FIFA Ladies’s World Cup, Akide (who had gained the nickname Marvellous) joined Warri-based group Ufuoma Babes, who had received the league and cup double the earlier two years. It was meant to be a gratifying relocation. Ufuoma received the league and the Problem Cup with 17 and 9 targets, respectively. It was the primary of a number of titles.
The next season, she scored 11 league targets and ten Problem Cup targets, serving to Ufuoma Babes keep their home league domination. In 1997, Akide continued to be the highest goalscorer. She scored 14 league targets and eight Problem Cup targets as Ufuoma received their fourth consecutive double. Pelican Stars defeated Ufuoma Babes in each the league and the cup in 1998, with Akide scoring a disappointing 10 league targets and seven within the Problem Cup.
Akide solely performed for the Pelican Stars for one yr, but it surely was a profitable one when it comes to trophies. Pelican received the double once more, regardless of Akide scoring solely 9 league targets and 6 Problem Cup targets. After an exciting World Cup efficiency with the Tremendous Falcons, Akide acquired a scholarship at Milligan Faculty in Tennessee, United States, by the tip of the season. In her sole season on the faculty, she scored 42 targets and assisted 15 instances, breaking a faculty file for each targets and factors (99).
Worldwide profession
Mercy’s two seasons of consistency with the Jegede Babes, throughout which she scored a complete of 49 targets, piqued the curiosity of nationwide coach Ismaila Mabo, and she or he was invited to camp in 1994. Nevertheless, one other string of targets (17 within the league and 9 within the Problem Cup) earned her a recall. Mercy made her worldwide debut quickly after, in a World Cup qualifier in opposition to Sierra Leone in Ibadan, the place she performed as a winger.
She marked it with two targets. She added yet another purpose within the second leg to safe her spot on the group. She was voted the inaugural African Ladies’s Footballer of the Yr in 2001 and a FIFA World All-Star in each 1999 and 2004.
She has represented Nigeria in three FIFA Ladies’s World Cups and helped the Tremendous Falcons win three African Ladies’s Championships (AWC) titles in 1998, 2000, and 2002. In November 2004, she married soccer journalist Colin Udoh in her hometown of Port Harcourt.
FIFA named her one among its 15 Ladies’s Soccer Ambassadors again in 2005. Mercy labored at Stars Soccer Membership from 2006 to 2008, the place she was the pinnacle coach for Stars U-16 Athena C Gold Ladies and Youth Improvement (an NGO that additionally employed her pal Luke Concannon, a coach for the U-13 ladies’ squad).
Mercy served as co-director of Youth Improvement and Seaside FC in Virginia Seaside, Virginia, from 2008 to 2013. Mercy started teaching for the Virginia Rush Soccer Membership in Virginia Seaside, Virginia, in 2013.
Fast Profession Stats
- 1988-1990 Backyard Metropolis Queens (Nigeria)
- 1991-1994 Jegede Babes (Nigeria)
- 1995-1998 Ufuoma Babes (Nigeria)
- 1998-1999 Pelican Stars (Nigeria)
- 1999-2000 Milligan Faculty/Hampton Roads Piranhas
- 2001–2002 San Diego Spirit (WUSA)
- 2003–2006 Hampton Roads Piranhas (W-League)
Achievements
Mercy Akide’s trophy cupboard displays her expertise. Listed here are just a few of her notable achievements:
- African Ladies Cup of Nations (AWCON): The Tremendous Falcons received championships in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.
- African Ladies Footballer of the Yr: Awarded in 2001 to recognise her because the continent’s finest.
- FIFA Ladies’s World Cup: Nigeria competed in 1999 and 2003, reaching the quarterfinals in 1999.
- Olympic Video games: Participated within the 2000 and 2004 Summer time Olympics.
- WUSA Participation: Performed for the San Diego Spirit, which showcased African expertise in a premier skilled league.
Akide’s file goes past awards. She was a pioneer for African ladies in world soccer, breaking down limitations and influencing gamers similar to Perpetua Nkwocha and Asisat Oshoala. She shattered limitations and labored to lift the profile of African ladies’s soccer.
Private life
She is married to Colin Udoh, a Nigerian journalist and sports activities TV broadcaster. Colin presently works for Kwese Sports activities. He has labored as a studio analyst for the Tremendous Sport tv community and a author for the African soccer journal Kick Off. He labored for the Nigeria Soccer Federation as a media officer.
They’ve youngsters, however Akide retains details about her household confidential. The couple has drawn consideration to her actions in soccer and group improvement.
She and her partner travelled to the US to hunt soccer and academic prospects. Akide has a level in enterprise administration, making her a task mannequin for younger athletes who wish to steadiness sports activities and college. Her household has been a pillar of power, and she or he incessantly honours them together with her accomplishments.
Akide can also be very connected to her roots in Port Harcourt. She participates in philanthropic endeavours similar to soccer clinics and mentorship programmes for younger females in Nigeria. Her dedication to giving again demonstrates that her legacy is extra than simply targets scored; it’s about altering lives.
Mercy Akide Internet Value
Mercy Akide performed in an period when ladies’s soccer was much less financially rewarding than it’s as we speak. Mercy Akide’s web value is predicted to vary between $1 million and $2 million. This quantity is predicated on her earnings as knowledgeable participant, teaching positions, endorsements, and different endeavours.
Akide earned cash whereas taking part in for the WUSA and Nigerian golf equipment, albeit ladies’s soccer earnings within the early 2000s had been decrease than males’s.
Her switch to the US was an enormous monetary step, because the WUSA paid aggressive wages on the time. Akide has additionally acquired endorsement offers; nonetheless, they aren’t as extensively publicised as these of contemporary artists similar to Asisat Oshoala.
Social Media
Instagram: @marvellousmercy