Meet Naomi Girma - 24-year-old Olympic gold winner and world's first million-dollar female footballer

Naomi Girma created history after being signed up for $1.12 million by the United Kingdom-based Chelsea football club, as reported by the BBC. She is now the world's most expensive female footballer and the first millionaire female football player as well. She surpassed Zambia's Rachael Kundananji who had joined US-based Bay FC for erstwhile transfer fee of $860,000.

Who is Naomi Girma?

Born on June 14, 2000, the 24-year-old is the first player of Ethiopian heritage to represent the US women's national team. She was born to Ethiopian parents in San Jose, California. She played as a defender for Stanford Cardinal University team and shot to fame in the last two years.

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Girma was the first draft pick of National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2022 and was picked by San Diego Wave.

She made her international debut for the US women's national team an year later and was part of the 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal winning team as well.

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In her rookie season with the San Diego Wave, she was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year as well as the Defender of the Year. In 2023, she was again named Defender of Year in NWSL.

She was also nominated for the women's player of the year award in the 2024 FIFA Best Awards and was named in the Best FIFA Women's XI as well.

As a teenager, Girma played for Central Valley Crossfire club in San Jose, where coach Bob Joyce pushed her to get into the Olympic Development Programme.

She later represented the US in under-14s and went on to play for Pioneer High School and then Stanford University.

Girma is a staunch supporter of mental health after her university team goalkeeper and friend Katie Meyer died by suicide in March 2022.

"Mental health is really important to me," Girma said, as reported by BBC. "I lost a friend to suicide, so that opened my eyes to the lack of resources and support that we have as athletes.

"It's something that's really important to me and something that I've worked really hard on," she added.