Nigerian Football
Nigerians Take to the Field as UEFA Leagues Enter Group Stage
As the 2017/2018 UEFA Champions League and Europa League gather momentum across Europe from this Tuesday, Sports Village Square presents the Nigerians who will be showcasing their skills across the various fields in Europe.
Victor Moses, Chelsea
Leading the pack of Nigeria’s ambassadors to the most followed continental league in the world is the mercurial Victor Moses. He is expected to take the splendid form he exhibited at the back-to-back World Cup encounters with Cameroon to the Group C UEFA Champions League home tie with Qarabag of Azerbaijan.
It is the first ever encounter that Chelsea will be having with the Azerbaijan opponents. It is also Qarabag’s debut in the UEFA Champions’ League Group stage while Chelsea is having its 15th entry.
Aaron Samuel Olanere, CSKA Moscow
Aaron Samuel Olanere, the 23 year old Super Eagles player may not have had ample playing time with Nigeria recently since his scoring debut against Sudan on October 15, 2014, this Tuesday will enable him display his talents when his CSKA Moscow side take on Portugal’s Benfica in Lisbon.
He was called up as an unused last minute replacement for injured Alex Iwobi of Arsenal for the recent Nigerian World Cup qualifying matches with Cameroon.
Sports Village Square gathered from UEFA that Olanere took full part in the training by the Russian side and therefore in contention to start the league duel with Benfica.
If featured, he will be wearing the unfamiliar shirt number 99. He will not be the first Nigerian in the CSKA UEFA Champions League side as Olanere will be treading the path earlier taken by Ahmed Musa.
Henry Onyekuru, Anderlecht
Sports Village Square recalls that Henry Onyekuru will be walking the path previously taken by the late Nigerian former captain and coach, Stephen Keshi as he laces his boots for Belgium’s Anderlecht in UEFA Champions’ League Group B away clash with Germany’s Bayern Munich.
Onyekuru took full part in the training by the Belgian side and therefore in contention to start the match at Fußball Arena München.
It is the first time that Onyekuru’s club will be in the group stage since the 2014/15 Season.
Nura Abdullahi, AS Roma
Unlike Victor Moses and Onyekuru who will likely play key roles for their clubs in the Champions’ League opening games, Abdullahi is almost a confirmed absentee. The Rio 2016 Nigerian footballer did not take part in the most recent training sessions for his Italian club, AS Roma which will be hosts to Atletico Madrid in Group C.
In fact, he is yet to feature in the two-week old Serie A matches.
Sunny Omoregie, N.K Maribor, Slovenia
In the same situation with Abdullahi is Sunny Omoregie of Maribor which faces Spartak in Group E on Wednesday. The Nigerian is not listed in the club’s squad for this season’s Champions League.
Theophilus Solomon, FK Partizan
Partizan Belgrade forward, Theophilus Solomon who joined the Serbian giant on August 12 2017 on a long season loan deal with the option of permanent transfer at the end of the season.
May likely feature when the club takes on Young Boys of Switzerland on Thursday. Sports Village Square gathered that the Nigerian who will be putting on jersey number 77 took part in all training session ahead of the game and is in contention to start the game.
Alex Iwobi, Arsenal
Arsenal has found a new domain in the less European league, the Europa Cup. But it will be without Alex Iwobi who appears not registered for the competition. In a similar situation is another player of Nigerian origin, Tolaji Bola whose name, like that of Iwobi is asterisked as belonging to the Arsenal FC Academy.
Imoh Ezekiel, Konyaspor, Turkey
But when Turkey’s Konyaspor take on Marseille on Thursday, Nigeria’s Imoh Ezekiel will likely be listed. Sports Village Square gathered from UEFA that Ezekiel participated in all training sessions ahead of the Europa Cup encounter.
His club however has a huge mountain to climb in Marseille as Konyaspor is yet to win a match in six outings in the continent. In previous outings, the Turkish side lost five and drew one.
Segun James Adeniyi, KF Skënderbeu
Segun Adeniyi is another Nigerian to watch out for when Albanian club, KF Skënderbeu take on Dynamos Kiev on Thursday in the Europa Cup Group B tie. If featured, he will wear shirt number 78. Sports Village Square can confirm that the Nigerian who scored 23 goals last season took paprt in all training session leading to the match.
Adeniyi will lock horns with fellow Nigeria, Theophilus Solomon when the Ueropa league Group B battle begins.
Samuel Adeniyi Adegbenro, Rosenborg F.C
Samuel Adegbenro is expected to feature for Rosenborg BK of Norway when the club face Real Sociedad in a Group L Europa Cup duel on Thursday. The native of Osogbo plays as centre forwaed and had score three goals in two outings or the club
The Nigeria U17 women’s team has been given incentives to make it to the Women’s World Cup for the eighth time.
The team, Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.
Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4 million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2 million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).
President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.
“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation.
“Yet, we have been further incentivised by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.
Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield.
Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.
The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official, respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.
Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be the commissioner, and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.
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Former president of the initially 15-member West African Football Union (WAFU), Chief Jonathan Boytie Ogufere, has expressed his heartfelt condolences over the recent death of former national team captain and coach, Christian ‘Chairman’ Chukwu.
He remarked that the erstwhile Enugu Rangers’ defence stalwart will ‘be dearly missed’. In a personally signed letter of condolence, Ogufere described Chukwu, who died on Saturday, April 12, in Enugu after a brief illness at 74, as a ‘hero of our time and a friend’.
The nonagenarian recalled with nostalgia how he nearly recruited the young Chukwu for his P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu, adding he was impressed with how the ‘Field Marshal Christian Chukwuemeka ‘Chairman ‘ Chukwu (MFR), conducted himself throughout his career as he led both the national team, the then Green Eagles and his beloved Enugu Rangers to many conquests.
“I join numerous others to mourn the transition of the legendary Christian Chukwu, a hero of our time and friend,” the Ugbugba of Okpe Kingdom wrote.
“As one of the young academicals discovered after the end of the Civil War in 1970, I tried to enlist into my club, the P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu but he was fair and frank in informing me that he had already joined Enugu Ranges Football Club, and I respected that attitude. From the rivalries between the two clubs, his exploits as a central defender were very visible.”
He continued: “Christian Chukwu emerged at the national level as a trustworthy and formidable captain of the national team who led by example.
“He was one of the heroes during the Golden age of Nigerian football when I was one of the Board Members of the Nigeria Football Association under the chairmanship of Chief Sunday Dankaro as Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980 for the first time where Christian Chukwu as captain of the Green Eagles was declared the best player of the tournament. He led the national team in several battles, which endeared him to millions of football lovers.
“After his playing days, he showed his talents through coaching in Nigeria and abroad.
“I express my sincere condolences to the family he left behind, the football family and the country in general. He will be dearly missed.
“May the good Lord grant his noble soul eternal rest,” he noted.
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Remo Stars are coasting to what will be their greatest moment ever, a win of the Nigeria Premier Football League title, as they recorded a 1-0 win over Shooting Stars in Ibadan in a match played behind closed doors.
In doing so, they achieved their sixth double of the season, having earlier beaten Shooting Stars in the first stanza of the league.
They maintained the seven-point lead over second-placed Rivers United, who also beat Sunshine Stars 1-0 in Port Harcourt.
After a ding-dong affair, Alex Oyowah scored the vital goal for Remo Stars from a right-wing cross from Ismail Sodiq.
In another match, Ikorodu City continued to work tenaciously to obtain a continental ticket as they held El Kanemi to a 1-1 draw.
SUNDAY RESULTS
- El Kanemi 1-1 Ikorodu City
- Niger Tornados 1-1 Bayelsa United
- Heartland 0-0 Kwara United
- Plateau United 1-0 Akwa United
- Rivers United 1-0 Sunshine Stars
- Shooting Stars 0-1 Remo Stars
- Bendel United 1-1 Nasarawa United
SATURDAY
- Katsina United 0-0 Abia Warriors
- Enyimba 2-1 Kano Pillars
- Lobi Stars 2-4 Enugu Rangers
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