Nicole Oyeyemisi Payne is a professional footballer who plays as a defender for National Women's Soccer League club Portland Thorns. Born in the United States, she represents Nigeria at international level.
She played college soccer at West Virginia before transferring to the University of South Carolina.
She is of Nigerian descent.
She represented the United States at youth levels before switching to the Nigeria national team.
Her two older siblings are also professional footballers. She even played with her sister Toni together for Nigeria's national team.
She majored in Psychology at West Virginia and later graduated from USC.
She first came to Portland on loan from PSG before transferring permanently.
The sisters trained five days a week since childhood—even on holidays—under the intense eye of their dad
Nicole credits her sister Toni as her biggest soccer role model and inspiration.
| Coupe de France: 2023–24 | 1× |
| Year | Club | AP | GL |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2024
-
present
|
Portland Thorns | 21 | 0 |
|
2023
-
2024
|
PSG | 3 | 0 |
|
2022
-
|
USC Trojans | 16 | 3 |
|
2019
-
2021
|
West Virginia Mountaineers | 53 | 4 |
| International Stats | |||
|
2021
-
2024
|
Nigeria | 9 | 0 |
|
2018
-
|
United States U19 | 1 | 0 |
|
2017
-
|
United States U17 | 1 | 0 |
