Perpetua Ijeoma Nkwocha (born 3 January 1976) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played for and captained the Nigeria women's national football team. She is the coach of Clemensnäs IF from Swedish Women's Football Division 2. She previously played for Swedish club Sunnanå SK.

Club career She played for Swedish side Sunnanå SK in both the top division (Damallsvenskan) and the second division (Elitettan) leagues from 2007 until 2014.

In June 2008, the BBC reported that Nkwocha had announced her plans to retire in two years, and that after doing so she wants to continue to be involved in football by becoming a coach. As of 2012 she was still playing in Sweden's second-tier league.

Ahead of the 2015 season, 39-year-old Nkwocha left Sunnanå to join lower division (4th tier) Clemensnäs IF in a player-coach role. She spent part of the previous season coaching boys' football in Nigeria, but wanted to settle in Sweden after taking Swedish citizenship.

International career With the Nigeria national team Nkwocha has participated in seven CAF Women's Championship editions (2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014), winning five of them (2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2014). At the 2004 African Women's Championship, she scored four goals in the final against Cameroon to help her country win the title. She also set a record by scoring nine overall goals during the tournament, and was named the best player of the tournament. Nkwocha was voted African Women's Footballer of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2010 and 2011 by Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Nkwocha has also participated in four FIFA Women's World Cup (2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015), as well as the Olympic tournaments of Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, and Beijing 2008

Personal life Nkwocha is in partnership with former Turkey based Çanakkale Dardanelspor professional striker and now by Piteå IF playing Ghanaian footballer Justice Tetteh Komey.

Honours Nigeria African Women's Championship: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2014 Individual African Women's Footballer of the Year: 2004, 2005, 2010, 2011 African Women's Championship Top goalscorer: 2004, 2006, 2010 IFFHS All-time Africa Women's Dream Team: 2021

Career statistics Scores and results list Nigeria goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nkwocha goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Perpetua NkwochaNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 14 September 2000 Canberra, Australia 1–3 1–3 2000 Summer Olympics2 13 December 2002 Warri, Nigeria 2–0 5–1 2002 African Women's Championship3 4–14 18 December 2002 Warri, Nigeria 4–0 5–0 5 20 December 2002 Warri, Nigeria 1–0 2–0 6 12 March 2004 South Africa 2–0 2–2 2004 Summer Olympics qualification7 22 April 2004 Reading, England 2–0 3–0 Friendly8 3–09 19 September 2004 Germiston, South Africa 3–0 4–0 2004 African Women's Championship10 22 September 2004 1–0 2–2 2004 African Women's Championship11 25 September 2004 Pretoria, South Africa 2–0 3–0 2004 African Women's Championship12 3–013 28 September 2004 Johannesburg, South Africa 4–0 4–0 2004 African Women's Championship14 3 October 2004 Johannesburg, South Africa 1–0 5–0 2004 African Women's Championship15 2–016 3–017 4–018 28 October 2006 Oleh, Nigeria 3–2 4–2 2006 African Women's Championship19 31 October 2006 Warri, Nigeria 2–0 6–0 2006 African Women's Championship20 6–021 7 November 2006 Warri, Nigeria 2–0 5–0 2006 African Women's Championship22 3–023 4–024 11 November 2006 Warri, Nigeria 1–0 1–0 2006 African Women's Championship25 22 July 2007 Algiers, Algeria 3–0 4–0 2007 All-Africa Games26 12 August 2008 Beijing, China 1–0 1–3 2008 Summer Olympics27 1 November 2010 Daveyton, South Africa 1–0 5–0 2010 African Women's Championship28 2–029 3–030 4 November 2010 Daveyton, South Africa 1–0 2–1 2010 African Women's Championship31 2–032 7 November 2010 Daveyton, South Africa 1–0 3–0 2010 African Women's Championship33 2–034 11 November 2010 Daveyton, South Africa 3–1 5–1 2010 African Women's Championship35 4–136 5–137 14 November 2010 Daveyton, South Africa 1–0 4–2 2010 African Women's Championship38 5 July 2011 Dresden, Germany 1–0 1–0 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup39 16 June 2012 Lagos, Nigeria 1–0 4–0 2012 African Women's Championship qualification40 29 October 2012 Bata, Equatorial Guinea 2–1 2–1 2012 African Women's Championship41 1 November 2012 Bata, Equatorial Guinea 3–0 3–0 2012 African Women's Championship42 14 October 2014 Windhoek, Namibia 6–0 6–0 2014 African Women's Championship

References

External links

Pictures of Perpetua receiving African Women Player of the Year award in 2004 (archive)