How Edna Imade became Liga F’s most disruptive goalscorer

A look at the forward whose impact is increasingly being felt across Spanish football

Credit: Getty Images

Barcelona Femení don’t lose very often – even less so without scoring. When Real Sociedad handed them their first loss of the season, goalscorer Edna Imade scripted history.

Real Sociedad won the game 1–0, scoring from the spot in the first half. This was Barcelona’s fifth league defeat since the 2019–20 season and their first away loss since May 2023. In fact, it was the first time the juggernauts had failed to score in a league game since January 2020.

The penalty against Barcelona was a monumental moment, but the goalscorer cast a shadow far bigger than it.

Journey to Liga F

Imade’s story has been one of battling the odds. Born to Nigerian parents, her mother fled Benin City while pregnant with twins and made the journey across the Sahara Desert.

After escaping the violence and surviving the desert, Edna and her twin brother, Paul, were born in Morocco. Her mother waited three months there before making the risky voyage across the sea in 2001 to reach Spain. After spending a year in a reception centre run by nuns, she moved to Seville and later on to Carmona, where football found her.

Edna’s passion for football began when she started playing on boys’ teams at the age of six in Carmona. She played there with her brother until she turned 14. It was at Nervión in the Andalusian second division where she first attracted attention, scoring almost a hundred goals in two seasons.

These performances snowballed into a move that took her to Málaga in 2019, followed by a switch to CP Cacereño two years later. Her performances in the lower divisions caught the eye of scouts and earned her a transfer to Granada in the first division.

She finished the 2024–25 season with 16 goals, second only to Barcelona stalwart Ewa Pajor (25). She accounted for just over 40% of Granada’s goals last season, highlighting her remarkable campaign. Her performances drew attention in Germany, resulting in a move to Bayern Munich this summer.