Mercy Akide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mercy Akide Udoh (born August 26, 1975) in Port Harcourt, Nigeria is a Nigerian football player. She was the first African Women's Footballer of the year (2002) and was a 1999 and 2004 FIFA World All-Star. She has played for Nigeria in the last 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 journalist Colin Udoh in her home town of Port Harcourt. In 2005, she was named by FIFA as one of its 15 Ambassadors for Women Football.
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[edit] Early Life
Mercy started playing football at the age of five with her brothers Seleipiri (elder) and Ipali (younger) in the sandy waterside streets of Bundu on the outskirts of Port Harcourt.
By the age of ten, and a tomboy, she was already outsmarting the boys at the nearby Prisons field as there were no women's teams at the time anywhere.
She also took part in village matches. In her very first game for her village, she scored 10 goals in one match before the first half was over! Such was her ability (she dribbled almost the entire team, plus goalkeeper to score on of her goals) that the opposing team protested that she was a boy and demanded an 'inspection'. They refused to carry on until that was done.
Once that was done and it was established that she was indeed a girl, play resumed and Mercy went on to score five more goals (mainly because the other team refused to leave their half).
Although her father (a traditional Kalabari chief) was unhappy to see his daughter hanging out with the boys, her mother Rose actively encouraged her to go ahead.
When she was 12 years old, at Holy Rosary Secondary School in Port Harcourt, she was challenging much older girls at long distance races, running the 400m, 800m and 1500m races. She was also a regional ping pong champion.
But it was in soccer that 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, who is now a full Nigeria international playing club football with CSKA Moscow.
It was due mainly to her exceptional skills that a group of youth soccer organisers put together a girls tournament from where the best players were selected to form 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 to continue both education and soccer with Jegede Babes under the influence of Princess Bola Jegede.
[edit] Career
1988-1990 Garden City Queens (Nigeria)
1991-1994 Jegede Babes (Nigeria)
1995-1998 Ufuoma Babes (Nigeria)
1998-1999 Pelican Stars (Nigeria)
1999-2000 Milligan College/Hampton Roads Piranhas
2001–2002 San Diego Spirit(WUSA)
2003–2006 Hampton Roads Piranhas(W-League)
[edit] Garden City Queens
At that time, the Nigerian Women's league was in its formative years and Garden City Queens was not among the big guns like Jegede Babes, Ufuoma Babes and Larry's Angels. The club played ostly exhibition games around the state with Mercy as the star attraction.
In those games, she averaged nearly five goals per game during the two years she spent at club. One of those friendly games was against big guns Jegede Babes, and although the Queens lost 6-1, Akide scored the only goal for her side.
Club proprietor Princess Bola Jegede was impressed by the skinny little girl singlehandedly tormenting her more experienced and older defenders that she promptly offered her a place in her club.
[edit] Jegede Babes
The young 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 eight in the Challenge Cup. She took the form into the next season, 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.
[edit] Ufuoma Babes
After returning from the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, Akide (who had by now earned the nickname of Marvellous), 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 to be 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. It was time for a move.
[edit] Pelican Stars
Akide spent only one year with Pelican Stars, but it was a rewarding year, trophy 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 to Milligan College in Tennesee, USA after a scintillating World Cup performance with the Super Falcons.
[edit] International Career
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. She didnt make it past the screening stage, mainly due to stage fright. But another rush of goals, 17 in the league and 9 in the Challenge Cup earned her a recall. This time, there was no going back. Her international debut came soon after, a World Cup qualifier against against Sierra Leone in Ibadan 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. A star was born.
[edit] Women's World Cup 1995
[edit] African Women's Championship 1998
[edit] Women's World Cup 1999
[edit] Olympic Games 2000
[edit] African Women's Championship 2000
[edit] African Women's Championship 2002
[edit] Women's World Cup 2003
[edit] Olympic Games 2004
[edit] Miscellaneous
- Mercy loves gospel music. Her favourite artist is Kirk Franklin
- She is devoted to her family and spends loads of time with her husband, who lives in Nigeria.
- She cares passionately about children and is currently working on a project called Mercy's Mission to help kids avoid the dangers of HIV/AIDS
- Mercy loves Nigerian movies and is friends with some of the star actresses.
