Nigerian Football
Dalung Tasks Pinnick To Reposition Nigerian Football
The Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick, has been urged to use its new office in CAF to reposition football in Nigeria.
The Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solomon Dalung made the remark when the executive board of the NFF paid him a courtesy call to thank him for his support during their CAF election campaign.
“As a major player, you must bring to bear not only your wealth of experience but you must assert the corporate integrity of Nigeria anywhere you find yourself taking a decision that affects Nigeria.
“In every diplomatic situation, Nigeria takes the lead and directs but in any political arrangement where you are visibly absent, then certainly your influence is also limited. So our presence on the board is a huge success”.
Barrister Dalung also charged the NFF to upgrade some of its facilities for use at the grassroots level and take competitions to the villages and rural areas.
“Let me use this opportunity to challenge you to use your new office and reposition football in Nigeria. Today, sports is science and there are scientific methods of doing things in sports. If we must go with the world, then we must also update our infrastructural facilities to cope with the dynamics of contemporary football development”.
“Football is the cheapest sports to establish everywhere. Let us create opportunities for our young people in the villages to participate. Once you begin to create football opportunities for them, young people will be clustering there in the evenings and there will be peace and security”.
Earlier, the NFF President Amaju Pinnick thanked President Mohammadu Buhari, the Minister and the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports for their unflinching support for him during the CAF elections.
Pinnick promised to use his mandate to redefine football in Nigeria.
“I have come here to say thank you for your support and kind advice in this direction. I recall when we met, you told us that Nigeria is too massive not to have members not only in football but in all the federations in their global or continental bodies .
“We realized that we have been short-changed in so many ways and if we had a Nigerian there, all those things will be in the past. With your support and your blessing, a Nigerian has been elected. Not just a peripheral member but a frontal, vocal and authoritative member of the new CAF.
“On behalf of the NFF I want to assure you that we will not let you down. We will make sure that this mandate, apart from redefining football in Africa, some of the trickle and auxiliary benefits of course, will come to Nigeria which is my primary constituency.” Amaju said.
The NFF President later presented his certificate of election to the Minister.
Enugu Rangers on Sunday beat Plateau United 2-0 to hold on at the top of the Nigeria Premier League. They extended their point haul to 57, two points ahead of their Oriental brothers, Enyimba who also beat Katsina United 1-0 to keep the chase for the title very hot.
Initial second placed team, Remo Stars dropped to the third position but still in contention for either the title, but at worse a continental ticket for next season.
Following Shooting Stars 2-0 defeat of Sunshine Stars in a South West derby, the top four positions of the are now held by the South East and South West as the league gets into its closing stage.
While Rangers and Enyimba are first and second at the moment, Remo Stars, though with an outstanding home game are third while their fellow westerners, Shooting Stars are fourth.
The weekend’s results:
Rivers United 2-0 Katsina United
Remo Stars 3-0 Niger Tornadoes
Doma United 0-0 Kwara United
Bendel Insurance 1-0 Heartland
Enugu Rangers 2-0 Plateau United
Shooting Stars 2-0 Sunshine Stars
Akwa United 3-0 Kano Pillars
Enyimba 1-0 Katsina United
Gombe United 3-2 Lobi Stars
Sporting Lagos 4-2 Abia Warriors
Remo Stars on Friday inch closer to achieving their first ever title in the Nigeria elite division league after beating visiting Niger Tornadoes 3-0 to move second on the log and just a point behind league leaders, Enugu Rangers.
Remo Stars are now with 53 points and still have an outstanding home game to play.
Friday’s win which comes on the eve of the proprietor’s birthday has put the team back into contention for the title.
They have progressively become prominent in the Nigerian premier league having placed third two seasons ago and second last season.
Top finish this season will confirm their progression and also a third consecutive continental outing.
Top scorer, Sikiru Alimi launched them of victory path as his 28th minute penalty kick heralded their return to high scoring ways.
It has been a while since they scored high in the league. Barely three minutes later, Sikiru, a contender for the top scorer award increased the tally to two.
Ahmed Akinyele completed the route in the 75th minute.
Nigerian Football
Nigeria face tough defence as Burkina Faso lie in wait at U17 WAFU B AFCON qualifiers
Defending champions Nigeria have been handed a difficult path to the 2025 U17 Africa Cup of Nations finals after being drawn in the same group as Burkina Faso for next month’s WAFU B qualifying tournament in Ghana.
The Golden Eaglets, who won the last edition of the regional championship in 2022, will also face Togo and Niger in Group B of the competition which runs from 15-28 May.
Hosts Ghana find themselves in Group A alongside Cote d’Ivoire and Benin in a tough-looking section of the competition to be played in Accra.
The draw was conducted by 1970s Ivorian football legends Kobenan Kouman and Die Foneye at the Ivorian FA headquarters in Abidjan on Friday.
Nigeria claimed their WAFU B U17 AFCON title by defeating Burkina Faso 2-1 in the regional final in Ghana two years ago.
However, they will need to overcome some familiar foes if they are to defend their crown and with the Burkina Faso finishing third at the last TotalEnergies U17 Africa Cup of Nations, some exciting matches are expected.
Arch-rivals Nigeria and Ghana are among the two favourites and could meet in the final in Accra on 28 May, should they top their respective groups and make it through the semi-finals.
Ghana also have pedigree at this level, having the World Cup in 1991 and 1995 as they bid to reach the U17 AFCON finals on home soil.
The top two teams from the WAFU B tournament will qualify for next year’s U17 Africa Cup of Nations.
Groups:
Group A: Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin
Group B: Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Togo, Niger.
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