Four NWFL titles with Rivers Angels. One Coupe de France with Paris FC. Today at Wembley, Chiamaka Nnadozie has the chance to make it six, and she is standing between Brighton and the biggest prize in the English women’s game.
Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie will take her place between the posts at Wembley Stadium today as Brighton face Manchester City in the Women’s FA Cup final, with the 25 year old one win away from claiming the sixth club trophy of her career. Brighton are appearing in their first major final and enter the showpiece on the back of a stunning second-half comeback over Liverpool in the semi-finals, where they overturned a deficit to win 3-2 and book their place at Wembley. Manchester City, the Women’s Super League champions, arrive having beaten Chelsea 3-2 after extra time in their semi-final, with Khadija Shaw scoring twice in a remarkable turnaround from two goals down at Stamford Bridge. Fans who want to bet on today’s final can get the best available pre-match odds from Bet9ja’s YOHAIG welcome code before kick-off at Wembley.
Nnadozie joined Brighton on a free transfer last summer following the end of her contract at Paris FC in France, and has repaid the faith shown in her from the opening weeks of the season. In 19 Women’s Super League appearances, she kept six clean sheets and maintained an average rating of 6.87 on WhoScored.com, earning a place in the platform’s Team of the Season. A stunning fingertip save against Liverpool in November won her the WSL Save of the Month award and earned a Save of the Season nomination. For a goalkeeper who had never played in English football before this campaign, the adaptation has been seamless.
The Trophy Cabinet That Brought Her Here
Chiamaka Nnadozie’s Five Club Trophies So Far
- NWFL Premiership title with Rivers Angels (Season 1)
- NWFL Premiership title with Rivers Angels (Season 2)
- NWFL Premiership title with Rivers Angels (Season 3)
- NWFL Premiership title with Rivers Angels (Season 4)
- Coupe de France Féminine with Paris FC
The four NWFL titles with Rivers Angels were won during the period when the Port Harcourt club dominated Nigerian women’s football so comprehensively that they became the natural destination for the country’s best young goalkeepers. Nnadozie was the standout among them. She helped Paris FC win the Coupe de France in her final season in France, their first title in the competition in two decades, before choosing Brighton as her next chapter. Each of those five trophies came at a club where she was the first choice goalkeeper from the start, and today will be no different at Wembley. Supporters following the Women’s FA Cup final and all the latest English women’s football can track the game through the Bet9ja WSL and FA Cup markets for the best same-day odds.
Brighton’s Path to a First Major Final
Brighton have never won the Women’s FA Cup and have not previously reached a major final in the club’s women’s football history. Coach Dario Vidošić has built a side that is difficult to beat, physically organised and effective at pressing from the front, and the semi final win over Liverpool showed the mental strength that runs through this squad. Coming from behind to win at Wembley’s scale is a different challenge from doing it in a semi final, but Brighton arrive with momentum, a packed out travel contingent and a goalkeeper who has kept clean sheets against the best forwards in the WSL this season.
Manchester City’s route to the final was more turbulent but ultimately just as convincing. They went two goals down at Stamford Bridge before Khadija Shaw took over, scoring twice to force extra time and eventually seeing City through. Shaw, who won the WSL golden boot this season, is the single biggest individual threat Nnadozie will face today. The Jamaican striker combines aerial power with intelligent movement in the box, and her record against goalkeepers who play with a high line makes her a particular challenge for a keeper who prefers to dominate her area with physical presence. Readers who want to follow Nnadozie’s Women’s Super League journey into next season can register through the Bet9ja current promotion code to stay across all WSL results from the first matchday of 2026/27.
What a Win Would Mean
A Women’s FA Cup winner’s medal with Brighton would be the most significant individual prize of Nnadozie’s European career so far. The Coupe de France with Paris FC was important, but the Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley is played before a crowd of more than 80,000 supporters, broadcast to a global audience, and represents the oldest women’s cup competition in the world. For a goalkeeper who moved to England with something to prove after years of excellent work in France and Nigeria, lifting the trophy this afternoon would confirm her standing among the best in the WSL in the most public way possible.
📌 Did You Know?
- Chiamaka Nnadozie was born on January 15, 2001, in Lagos, Nigeria, making her 25 years old at the time of today’s Women’s FA Cup final. She became Rivers Angels’ first-choice goalkeeper as a teenager, winning her first NWFL title before her 18th birthday.
- The Women’s FA Cup was first played in 1970/71, making it the oldest women’s football cup competition in the world. Arsenal Women hold the record for the most Women’s FA Cup titles, with 14 wins across the competition’s history. Manchester City have previously won the trophy twice, in 2017 and 2022.
- Brighton’s women’s team was founded in 1991 but only achieved significant top flight standing in the WSL following a major investment by the club’s ownership group in 2018. Their route to a first Women’s FA Cup final in 2026 represents the completion of an eight-year project to turn them into genuine contenders in the English women’s game.
- Khadija Shaw, Manchester City’s Jamaican striker who will line up against Nnadozie today, won the WSL Golden Boot this season. Shaw was also the leading scorer at the Unity Cup tournament earlier this week before returning to prepare for the Wembley final, making her one of the most active high-profile players in women’s football across this particular seven day stretch.
- Paris FC, where Nnadozie won the Coupe de France before joining Brighton, are a club based in Paris that operates separately from Paris Saint-Germain despite sharing the same city. Paris FC have been one of the more ambitious mid-tier clubs in French women’s football, investing in experienced international players as part of their effort to challenge the established hierarchy of Lyon, PSG and Montpellier.
- Dario Vidošić, Brighton’s head coach who has guided them to today’s Women’s FA Cup final, is an Australian of Croatian descent who previously coached in the A-League and W-League before moving to English football. His tactical approach at Brighton is built around compact defensive organisation and a willingness to press high when winning the ball back in transition.
- The Women’s FA Cup final at Wembley has been held at the national stadium since 2015. Attendance records have been broken in multiple recent finals, with the 2023 final between Chelsea and Manchester United drawing a then record crowd of over 76,000. Today’s match is expected to exceed 80,000 supporters given Brighton’s first appearance and the general growth of interest in the Women’s Super League.
