'Get used to it' - women's football is the future, says Barca's Oshoala

BARCELONA : Female football is the future, Barcelona's four times African footballer of the year Asisat Oshoala told Reuters as her side look to cap a dream year by beating Lyon in the women’s Champions League final in Turin on Saturday.

After scoring 20 goals in 19 games this season to help Barcelona win the Spanish league with a perfect 30 wins from 30 games, Oshoala is excited about the growth of the sport.

Barca broke the women's attendance record twice in their last two Champions League home games, with 91,648 fans turning up to see them thrash Wolfsburg 5-1 in their semi-final first leg on April 22.

That broke the previous women's attendance record, set three weeks before when 91,553 flocked to Camp Nou for Barcelona's showdown with Real Madrid.

“This is amazing to see in women's soccer and I think this is just the beginning. You're just going to have to get used to it,” Oshoala told Reuters.

“Getting used to it because we are tired of those things that people used to say about women’s soccer, all the prejudice.

“Interest is growing, we've got more fans at the stadium, selling jerseys and more viewers on television. Like I've always said to people, female football is the future. You will have to get used to it.”

Nigeria's Oshoala, 27, is Africa's most decorated female footballer, scoring at two World Cups and in a Champions League final - a late consolation in Barca’s 4-1 defeat to Lyon in 2019 -  and the first woman from the continent to claim Spain's golden boot.

Yet she experienced a roundabout route to soccer's elite.

She was nearly denied the opportunity to play by her parents who considered soccer so unsuitable for their daughter that they banned her from playing on the street with her friends.

Because of her