Rita Chikwelu has joined Spanish Primera Iberdrola club Madrid from Swedish Damallsvenskan side Kristianstads for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, Goal can exclusively report.
The Nigeria international spent the last three seasons with the Swedish top-flight outfit, scoring 12 goals in 64 outings and helped them finish as 2019 Swedish Women's Cup runners-up.
Chikwelu starred in Nigeria's 2018 Africa Women's Cup of Nations triumph and at the 2019 Women's World Cup in France, where the country reached the knockout stage for the first time since 1999.
Following her arrival on Thursday, Oscar Farnadez will be counting on her experience to revive the team's dwindling fortunes in the second stanza after the Nigerian's successful medical.
The 31-year-old, previously played for FC United, scoring 28 goals, including 22 to finish as the Finnish Naisten Liiga topscorer in 2009 and scored 16 goals in 141 matches for Sweden side Umea.
At Madrid, Chikwelu will reunite with her compatriot Chidinma Okeke, who joined last summer but was out for at least six months due to a knee injury suffered last October.
She will also become the seventh Nigerian to be plying their trade in Spain following the earlier arrival of Asisat Oshoala, Charity Adule, Alice Ogebe, Peace Efih, Chidinma Okeke and Osinachi Ohale.
Chikwelu is expected to make her debut against Ogebe's Real Betis on Sunday. She is needed to play a key role for 14th placed Madri to avoid relegation from the top-flight at the end of the season.
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