The Super Falcons striker, who combined football career with her studies, has graduated with a First Class Honors degree in Economics from the University of Southampton.
Ini-Abasi Anefiok Umotong wrote on her Facebook page “Delighted to be graduating with a First Class Honours in Economics with a First Class Dissertation!”
Born in Calabar, Nigeria, Umotong alongside her family moved to Birmingham, England when she was one year old. She is the youngest of six siblings born to Ben Anefiok and Grace Umotong. She began playing football at the age of five and it was in Primary school she got scouted by Birmingham City, Centre of Excellence in 2003.
Umotong has only made one appearance for Nigeria’s senior women’s’ team and she was a part of the squad that represented Nigeria at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada, in spite of the fact that she didn’t get the chance to play.
In November 2016, she packed two awards at the FA’s Women’s Award function held at Wembley Stadium – the FA Women’s Super League 2 Players’ Player of the Year honor and Top Goalscorer award – after an extraordinary debut season for Oxford United.
Aged 24, Umotong is starring for Brighton & Hove Albion since July 2017. She scored eight league goals to help the Seagulls finish second in the re-branded second tier (now known as the FA Women’s Championship).
When Brighton successfully bid for a franchise in the top division, Umotong was one of the club’s existing players to be kept on. She hailed the influence of Brighton coach Hope Powell, crediting the former England manager with a dramatic improvement in her game.
