Remo Stars F.C. have announced the appointment of Usman Abdallah as the club’s new Technical Adviser, with immediate effect.

In a press statement released by the club, the Sky Blue Stars described the move as a significant step toward elevating performance standards and strengthening their competitive ambitions.

Abd’Allah arrives with extensive technical and academic credentials. He holds a UEFA Pro Licence and advanced degrees in football coaching and team management from Le CREPS de Montpellier in France. He is also certified under Singapore’s National Coaching Accreditation Programme (NCAP) Level 1 and possesses the prestigious LaLiga Coaching Certificate.

He is credited with broad experience across continents. As a seasoned tactician, Abd’Allah has managed clubs across Asia and France, combining international exposure with deep knowledge of Nigerian football.

On the domestic scene, he previously served as Technical Adviser of Enyimba F.C., guiding the club to the semi-finals of the CAF Confederation Cup, where they narrowly lost to Morocco’s Raja Casablanca.

He also led Enyimba to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) title in the 2018/19 season.

Abd’Allah has also worked with Kano Pillars F.C. as assistant coach and youth team overseer, and served as assistant coach of the Nigeria national football team under former head coach Jose Peseiro.

New Era for the Sky Blue Stars

Remo Stars expressed confidence that Abd’Allah’s blend of international certification, continental experience and understanding of the Nigerian league landscape positions him well to lead the club into its next phase.

The club said it looks forward to “exciting moments” under his leadership as preparations intensify for upcoming domestic and continental engagements.

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Speculation linking Nigeria’s Super Eagles manager with a possible move to France has been effectively laid to rest following Olympique de Marseille’s appointment of former club captain Habib Beye as their new head coach.

Habib Beye is now to handle Olympique de Marseille. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Olympique de Marseille confirmed on Wednesday that Beye, 48, will take charge of the Ligue 1 side just over a week after he was dismissed by Rennes following a run of poor results and reported disagreements with some players.

Beye, who captained Marseille during his playing career between 2003 and 2007, also had spells in the English Premier League with Newcastle United and Aston Villa.

His first match in charge will be a Ligue 1 fixture against Brest on Friday. Marseille currently sit fourth in the French top flight, 12 points behind leaders Lens.

The appointment follows the departure of former coach Roberto De Zerbi, who left the club by mutual consent after a heavy 5–0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain and elimination from the UEFA Champions League.

Marseille remain active in the Coupe de France and are scheduled to face Toulouse in the quarter-finals on March 4.

The confirmation of Beye’s appointment clarifies Marseille’s managerial direction and puts to rest rumours suggesting that Nigeria’s national team coach could be on the verge of taking over at the French club.

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By Kunle Solaja.

Nigerian football has seen this movie before. The script rarely changes. Only the victims do.

When controversial officiating becomes routine, when patterns of “human error” consistently harm particular clubs, and when referee appointments remain opaque, the question is no longer about mistakes.

It is about the system.

In 1986, the IICC Shooting Stars became the centre of controversy after the late Chief Lekan Salami accused referees of bribery. What followed was a season of decisions that many believed were punitive. By the end, the once-dominant club had been relegated.

In 2000, after the late Col. Yabilsu, then Chairman of the Nigerian Referees Association, was attacked in Ilorin, Kwara United were banished from their home base to Calabar for the remainder of the season. At the time, they were top of the league. What followed defied football logic: a 14-match losing streak in the second stanza. Fourteen straight defeats. From first place to relegation.

Football can be unpredictable. But not that predictable.

Today, once again, questions swirl around officiating standards. Clubs complain. Fans protest. Analysts point to recurring inconsistencies. Yet the structure responsible for referee appointments remains largely insulated from scrutiny.

It is almost certain that Remo Stars, the current Nigerian champions, are doomed to relegation, no matter how hard they struggle. This is just not their season, as it is apparent that Nigerian referees are bent on getting the club relegated. Last December, the club owner, Kunle Soname, cried out about an apparent referees’ gang-up, just as the late Chief Lekan Salami did, four decades ago.

As Chief Lekan Salami did 40 years ago, Kunle Soname last December publicly questioned officiating standards in the Nigeria Premier League. In the weeks that followed, his club found itself at the centre of contentious refereeing decisions that have deepened the debate.

Instead of improvement, it has gone from bad to worse in successive matches. Yet the Nigerian football administrators have not bothered to look into the complaints of questionable referees’ appointment, as well as the glaring poor image of the Nigerian referees, who are hardly considered in international championships.

And here is the real danger: perception.

Once fans believe referees can influence league outcomes, the integrity of the competition collapses. Sponsors hesitate. Investors retreat. Television audiences shrink. Credibility evaporates.

Perhaps this persistent domestic controversy also explains why Nigerian referees struggle to secure regular appointments at major continental and global tournaments. While officials from countries with far smaller football footprints, including Burundi, Chad, Mauritania, Djibouti and Lesotho, have featured at recent editions of the Africa Cup of Nations, Nigeria has been conspicuously absent.

Save for the brief cameo of Samuel Pwadutakam at the 2021 tournament in Cameroon, no Nigerian referee had been appointed to the AFCON in nearly two decades. For a country that prides itself as a continental football powerhouse, that statistic is difficult to ignore.

Whether by coincidence or consequence, prolonged absence at elite competitions inevitably raises questions about domestic officiating standards, development structures, and institutional credibility.

For a nation of Nigeria’s football stature, participation at the highest refereeing level should be routine, not rare

International bodies are uncompromising about integrity. If domestic officiating is repeatedly controversial, global trust naturally declines.

No league grows under suspicion.

The referee appointment committee must no longer operate like a closed circle. Transparency must replace discretion. Merit must replace influence. Independent performance review mechanisms must be instituted. Technology must be embraced.

Because when referees become more powerful than results, the competition is already compromised.

Nigerian football deserves better.

And until the officiating structure is reformed, history will keep repeating itself with different clubs, the same controversy, and the same damage to our national sporting image.

This nonsense has to stop.

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