Liverpool Ladies and Nigeria forward Asisat Oshoala has been named as the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year. Fans voted for the winner and Oshoala, 20, won the award after starring at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada last summer. In addition to being the tournament’s leading scorer and voted the best player, her performances led Nigeria to the final, where they were narrowly beaten by Germany.  She was also a major influence in the senior Nigeria team who won the African Women’s Championship in October. That ensured their qualification for this summer’s World Cup in Canada. To win the award, Oshoala beat the likes of Spain’s Veronica Boquete, Germany’s Nadine Kessler, Scotland’s Kim Little and Brazil’s Marta. “I would like to say thank you to the BBC, to my fans around the world and to everyone who voted,” she said. The award is the first of its kind hosted by a global broadcaster. Oshoala said the honour was a big lift for Nigeria ahead of the World Cup and would help inspire young players in her homeland. She said: “It’s a really good thing for us as a team because we now know that we have something great and now we want to go at the trophy. We can do it, we did it in 2014 we can also do it this year as well. “There is going to be a lot of motivation for women’s football in Nigeria now because of this award because there are a lot of fans out there. “Support for women’s football in Nigeria is now growing very high. “I know my Liverpool Ladies coach is going to be happy right now. Before I left the UK he called me and said to me ‘don’t worry I hope you win the award and we’re going to celebrate it when you come back’.”

Congrats to our Golden Girl and thanks to all of you that voted.