Nigeria’s U-17 Women’s World Cup Golden Ball winner, Oluebube Umejiaku, has revealed that her biggest motivation in football is to rescue her mother from hardship and give her a better life.
The Flamingos forward, who emerged as the best player at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco, said her determination to succeed was driven by the difficult financial circumstances of her family and the humiliation her mother has endured.
Speaking to BBC News Pidgin, Umejiaku said growing up in a family with little financial means was a major challenge but insisted that she would never abandon her football career.
“It’s not easy coming out from a family that has nothing. It was a very big challenge for me to make it in life. No matter how, in this football career, I won’t give up. I cannot give up,” she said.
Explaining why she was determined to make it in life, the youngster said she could not bear to watch her mother continue to suffer and endure insults from people.
“I can’t give up because of my mother; she has suffered a lot. I need to take her out of where she is. People insult her, talk to her anyhow. Even when I’m there, they talk to her anyhow,” she said.
The Golden Ball winner added that she constantly prays for fame and success so that people would stop looking down on her mother.
“I always talk to God to make people know my name, so they won’t insult my mother anyhow. She tells me not to reply them, to allow them insult her, so they won’t put me in any problem.
“I give God all the glory, and I thank God for life. I pray God gives me the strength, the mind, the ability to go forward in life,” she added.
Umejiaku also credited her mother for playing a major role in her outstanding performance at the tournament, revealing that she constantly called to encourage her to score goals.
“When I started playing football at seven years old, I didn’t see myself winning the World Cup Golden Ball. When we won the tournament, my mother didn’t let me rest. Even during the tournament, she always called me to motivate me to score. Whenever she says that I’ll score, I’ll score. So I’m very happy,” she said.
The young forward backed up her Golden Ball triumph with impressive performances throughout the competition, scoring or providing an assist in every match she featured in.
Although she did not start Nigeria’s opening 2-1 defeat to Poland, she came off the bench to score the Flamingos’ first goal of the tournament.
She subsequently provided an assist in the 2-0 victory over Puerto Rico before scoring against defending champions Korea DPR in Nigeria’s 3-1 win.
In the knockout stages, Umejiaku scored against Mexico and won the late penalty converted by Azeezat Oduntan to give Nigeria a 1-0 quarter-final victory over Venezuela.
She also assisted Nigeria’s third goal in the 3-1 semi-final triumph over Brazil before scoring the second goal in the 2-1 victory over Japan in the final.
The Flamingos made history in Morocco by becoming the first African nation to win the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, while Umejiaku emerged as the tournament’s outstanding individual player.
