{"id":15156,"date":"2026-11-11T15:31:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T15:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/11\/soludo-celebrates-anambra-born-u-17-golden-ball-winner-umejiaku\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T15:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T15:31:08","slug":"soludo-celebrates-anambra-born-u-17-golden-ball-winner-umejiaku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/11\/soludo-celebrates-anambra-born-u-17-golden-ball-winner-umejiaku\/","title":{"rendered":"Soludo celebrates Anambra-born U-17 Golden Ball winner, Umejiaku"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"443\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Soludo-celebrates-Anambra-born-U-17-Golden-Ball-winner-Umejiaku.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Soludo celebrates Anambra-born U-17 Golden Ball winner, Umejiaku\" decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Soludo-celebrates-Anambra-born-U-17-Golden-Ball-winner-Umejiaku.jpg 443w, https:\/\/cdn.vanguardngr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Nwaenugu-300x217.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 443px) 100vw, 443px\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By Steve Oko<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has celebrated Oluebube Umejiaku, the Anambra-born midfielder who emerged the Most Valuable Player at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup in Morocco.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Umejiaku won the prestigious Golden Ball award after inspiring Nigeria\u2019s Flamingos to a historic 2-1 victory over Japan in the final played on November 7.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The talented midfielder also scored Nigeria\u2019s decisive second goal, sealing the victory and earning the Player of the Match award in the final.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The triumph marked the first time an African women\u2019s national team had won a FIFA World Cup title at any level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Soludo, through his Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, described Umejiaku\u2019s performance at the tournament as superlative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In recognition of her achievement, the Chairman of the Anambra State Football Association, General Chikelue Iloenyosi, travelled to Abuja on November 9 to receive and celebrate the young football star on behalf of the state government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Iloenyosi commended Soludo for his commitment to sports development and efforts to identify and nurture sporting talents across the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said Umejiaku\u2019s emergence on the global stage underscored the importance of grassroots sports development and sustained investment in young talents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Golden Ball winner\u2019s achievement has also been described as a major source of inspiration to aspiring female footballers in Anambra State and the South-East.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From her early football development to becoming the standout player at a global tournament, Umejiaku\u2019s rise represents a significant milestone for women\u2019s football in the state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her performance in Morocco has further highlighted Nigeria\u2019s potential in women\u2019s youth football and placed her among the emerging talents attracting attention on the global stage.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/2026\/11\/soludo-celebrates-anambra-born-u-17-golden-ball-winner-umejiaku\/\">Soludo celebrates Anambra-born U-17 Golden Ball winner, Umejiaku<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanguardngr.com\/\">Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Source: <\/p>\n<div class=\"nSourse\">Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Steve Oko Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has celebrated Oluebube Umejiaku, the Anambra-born midfielder who emerged the Most Valuable Player at the 2026 FIFA U-17 Women\u2019s World Cup in&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}