Rabat, 26 July 2025. Nigeria were two goals down to Morocco in the WAFCON final when Esther Okoronkwo stepped up for a 64th-minute penalty. She scored, then set up Folashade Ijamilusi's equaliser and Jennifer Echegini's late winner as the Super Falcons won 3-2.
| Esther Okoronkwo | Key facts |
|---|---|
| Date of birth | 27 March 1997 |
| Home state | Abia State, Nigeria |
| Position | Forward, No. 9 |
| Current club | AFC Toronto (Northern Super League, Canada), contract to 2027 |
| Previous clubs | Saint-Etienne, UD Tenerife, Changchun Dazhong |
| Nigeria debut | 10 June 2021, against Jamaica |
| Major honours | WAFCON 2024 winner (played in 2025), OON |
| Salary | Not publicly disclosed |
From the streets of Abia to Texas
She was five.
That was her age, according to a Sports247 profile drawn from her interview with CBC Sports, when she began chasing her older brother and his friends through the streets of Abia, begging to be let into their games. The family later settled in Texas. She attended John and Randolph Foster High School in Richmond. College football followed at Northeast Texas Community College and then Lamar University. There she was named Southland Conference Player of the Year.
“I didn't think I'd go professional,” she told CBC Sports. “Back then, women's football wasn't seen the way it is today. But I knew I was good.”
The road was rough. A torn ACL in 2018 nearly derailed her. A second one came in her first professional season at Saint-Etienne. That injury also cost her the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations. Spain was next, with UD Tenerife in Liga F. Then China and Changchun Dazhong in 2024.
Esther Okoronkwo's club career in Toronto
AFC Toronto signed her in February 2025, for the first season of Canada's new professional league. It worked at once. On 1 May 2025 she scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Calgary Wild, the first victory in the club's history, and by the end of the campaign she had eight league goals and 11 assists in 20 appearances, the most assists in the league. She made the NSL Team of the Season. Toronto topped the table but lost the final 2-1 to Vancouver Rise.
In January 2026 the club confirmed a one-year extension to 2027. She remains on the roster.
Super Falcons career: World Cup, Olympics and WAFCON
Her senior debut came against Jamaica on 10 June 2021. She then scored the goal against Ivory Coast that sealed a place at the 2022 WAFCON. Injury kept her out of the tournament itself. She was in Randy Waldrum's 23-player squad at the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Paris 2024 followed.
The 2024 edition of WAFCON, played in Morocco in July 2025, changed everything for her, because CAF credited her with six assists in six matches, plus one goal and two Player of the Match awards, and she was named in the Best XI. Her favourite moment? “It has to be the assist for the winning goal in the final,” she told CAF.
The 2026 edition hurt. Before the opener against Malawi she was racially abused online. The NFF and AFC Toronto both issued statements backing her. She answered with Martin Luther King's words: “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” Nigeria lost that opener 3-2. Wins over Zambia and Egypt followed. Then Cameroon won the quarter-final 1-0 on 9 August, and the Falcons must now go through the play-offs for the 2027 World Cup in Brazil.
For more context, see our list of Super Falcons top scorers at WAFCON.
Esther Okoronkwo salary: what is actually known
No published source gives her salary. Neither the player nor AFC Toronto has disclosed it.
The league framework is on record. When the Northern Super League launched, it set a minimum salary of CAD 50,000 per player and a team cap of CAD 1.6 million. All contracts are guaranteed. Each club may sign one designated player outside the cap.
The clearest public figure came from Abuja. After the 2025 WAFCON triumph, President Bola Tinubu gave each Super Falcons player $100,000, a three-bedroom flat in the Renewed Hope Housing Estate and the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger. At the official rate of about N1,328 to the dollar on 2 October 2026, that cash is worth roughly N132.8 million. For comparison, read our piece on Asisat Oshoala's salary at Bay FC. Treat any unsourced Okoronkwo figure online with caution.
Our view
Okoronkwo keeps her private life out of the headlines. Beyond the brother whose street games she gatecrashed, she has shared little.
Her story still says a lot. A forward who came back from two torn ACLs and crossed three continents before settling ended up deciding a continental final, which shows how Nigerian talent abroad can be found late and still deliver. “My main aim is for the team to win,” she told CAF. “When the team wins, I am happy.” Few lines sum her up better.
She now belongs in any conversation about the Falcons' modern greats, alongside the all-time top scorers.
This article was most recently revised and updated 5 hours ago
