Ode Fulutudilu: Glasgow City & South Africa striker on being a refugee, God & Glasgow City

"I hope people can look at me and see anything is possible, but nothing in life comes easy. If you're not willing to sweat and shed a few tears, maybe you don't want it badly enough."

Overcoming adversity is ingrained in Ode Fulutudilu, the refugee who became an international striker with South Africa.

Fulutudilu's remarkable life story is one of tenacity and talent, emerging from a childhood of poverty and struggle to fulfil her dreams of football stardom.

Here, the 31-year-old Glasgow City striker shares her journey.

Fulutudilu was three years old when she and her family fled unrest in her native country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to move to neighbouring Angola.

A year later they settled in Cape Town, South Africa, as refugees but the hardship was relentless.

"Because South Africa itself was still recovering from apartheid, there was a lot of unemployment," says Fulutudilu. "We were extremely poor because my father couldn't get a job.

"It became so bad that he decided to go back to Angola, but he left me in South Africa, because it was better for me to stay there."

The importance of education and faith in God instilled by her father was never forgotten by Fulutudilu.

She ended up in a children's home, which led to meeting the woman who would become her foster mother and change her life.

"My father taught me about Christ," she explains. "The more I grew into it, the more I could feel God speak to me and direct me in terms of where he wants me to go and what he wants me to do."

Having "fallen in love" with football watching South Africa's men's team at the 1998 World Cup, kicking a ball whenever and wherever possible became an obsession in her early teenage years.

It was this passion for the game that offered a route to a brighter future.

"Through the children's home I met a British lady, who was a missionary and her work was football-related," says Fulutudilu. "We met through me playing for my first organised girls' team.

"She saw my passion, my potential, and that I needed a home. So I would go and stay with her on weekends and over time it just increased until it became my permanent home.

"Football was a tool that allowed me get an education. My foster mother helped me get a four-year full scholarship to study in Tennessee, an amazing opportunity.

"Even now, my foster mother watches all my games and supports everything I do. I speak to her almost every day."

Her time at university saw the striker thrive in a winning team, with her natural talents and finishing prowess complemented by a mindset shift.

Her form had not gone unnoticed. By the end of her four years, Fulutudilu was leaving America in 2014 with a degree in sociology and a first cap for South Africa, going on to help her adopted homeland to a third-place finish at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The end of that tournament brought a crossroads. Fulutudilu put her degree to use as a social worker at a school for disadvantaged adolescents, but the craving of a full-time football career would not dissipate.

It required a leap of faith - from South Africa all the way to northern Finland.

"It's always hard to get that first break in European football if you're not from there," the 31-year-old says. "My agent informed me my first league was not going to be glamorous - I had to be willing to go basically anywhere.

"Finland was actually not a bad a place to start. It was lovely, a nice small town, Oulu, in the north. I was just excited to be able to play full-time."

Fulutudilu's goals in that debut season helped her club, ONS Oulu, avoid relegation and paved the way for her to make history.

A move to Malaga made her the first South African to play in the top flight of Spanish women's football. She was then a key part of the Banyana Banyana team at the 2019 World Cup, the country's tournament debut.

"It was an experience no one can take away from us," she says. "I hope it's not my last, although I will be 33 by the next World Cup."

After a return to Finland, winning the league and cup double with Aland United, Fulutudilu's next adventure took her to Glasgow.

"I had other offers at that time - from Norway and Sweden - but after tasting silverware I wanted to join a team that were fighting for trophies," she explained.

The only problem was, she and her new team could not play or even train because of the Covid-enforced shutdown. Having arrived in Scotland in January, Fulutudilu had to wait until April to make her debut.

She turned the downtime into a positive, with South Africa and Glasgow City team-mate Janine van Wijk an immediate source of support.

"I used the opportunity to get to know the team, to explore and get accustomed to the environment, weather and players," she says.

"Janine doesn't live too far away from me so we hang out all the time, we make South African food together, we watch soccer together. It's been really nice to be here with someone I knew in the past."

When finally unleashed on the SWPL1, Fulutudilu's impact was startling, with hat-tricks in her first-two games before Glasgow City went on to clinch the title.

And what does a future beyond playing hold for the trailblazing forward?

"I can't see myself going back to an office, I hope to remain in women's football," she added. "Every player should look to remain in the game in one form or another to help it to grow."