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Nigerian Football

Hammer Falls on Clubs, Players in Bet9ja League

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Bet9ja Nigeria National League campaigners, Yobe Desert Stars, Osun United and UNICEM Rovers of Calabar will play their next three home matches in the league under strict closed doors for assaults on match officials and crowd encroachment.

The Bet9ja National League is the second tier of club football in Nigeria.

The three teams are also to pay fines for various degrees of offences and violation of the league’s rule book.

Official report indicted UNICEM Rovers of Calabar for assault on match officials that handled their match day nineteen encounter with Warri Wolves at the U.J Esuene Stadium, Calabar.

The officials received bodily harm of different proportion following the attack by the supporters of the UNICEM Rovers during and after the match.

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UNICEM are to also pay N1, 000,000.00 (one million naira) for violating Article 27 on misconduct and N750, 000.00 (Seven hundred and Fifty thousand naira) for the treatment of the match officials.

Jimmy Okotu Assistant secretary of UNICEM Rovers has been handed an indefinite suspension and is to stay away from all NNL matches pending a scheduled compliance with the unit in the NNL.

Another official, Ushie was charged for complicit act that led to the heartless beating of the Match officials while Okotu reportedly slapped the centre referee and led a group of fans of UNICEM Rovers to assault the match officials.

UNICEM Rovers are also to pay N137, 500 being the estimated cost of items reportedly damaged and lost by the match officials in the process of assault on them.

The sum of N1, 887, 500.00 (One million, eight hundred and eighty seven thousand, five hundred, is to be paid to the league body by UNICEM Rovers for violations of rules and regulations.

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Yobe Desert Stars of Damaturu  aside playing their next three home matches without their fans are to also pay the sum of N2, 000.000.00 ( Two million naira) for assault on match officials and encroachment, for contravening other sections of the league rules in their match day sixteen with Abuja based FRSC at the August 27 Stadium in Damaturu.

It was also reported that Supporters of Yobe encroached into the field of play descending on the match officials and throwing various objects at them, and equally stated that the fans of Yobe celebrated the only goal of the game on the pitch while holding the Game up.

The report further stated that Yobe fans prevented match officials from entering the dressing room at half time.

In the summary jurisdiction Osun United, UNICEM Rovers and Yobe Desert Stars have been given one week by the NNL management to identify and produce the assailants.

Osun United duo of Victor Okeji and Obasi Chigozie summarily has been placed on a year ban for assaulting the centre referee after their match day nineteen (19) at the Osun Township Stadium, Oshogbo.

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Osun United are to equally pay the sum of N1million for assault on the referees in accordance with article 26 and 27 of the League rules.

Official report confirms that supporters of Osun United ran into the field and assaulted the match officials.

The officials were held hostage for over twenty minutes in the field of play before entering the dressing room

The football associations in Cross River, Osun and Yobe States were charged by the NNL to face its responsibilities squarely.

Victor Okeji and Obasi Chigozie are mandated to appear before the Compliance Unit of the NNL on Monday.

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Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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Nigerian Football

WAFU B U17 Championship: Garba insists technical crew on course to raise formidable squad

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Head Coach Many Garba has told thenff.com that the technical crew of Nigeria’s U17 boys, Golden Eaglets that he heads, is firmly on course to raise a squad capable of doing Nigeria proud at the forthcoming WAFU B U17 Championship in Ghana.

The 2013 FIFA U17 World Cup-winning team lead strategist has told Nigerians to discountenance stories of large failures of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) tests in his team and rather believe that his crew will put together a squad that will do the job of winning a ticket to next year’s Africa U17 Cup of Nations from the tournament in Ghana.

“Let me clear the air on this matter. The genuine U17 players, according to their official document made available to the NFF and the MRI tests conducted by the football body are still in the camp preparing for the WAFU B U17 tournament. When the camp opened last month, the very sincere football academies had to withdraw their players after the MRI tests they conducted showed that their players were on Grade 5. These players had to leave the camp immediately.

“Those who were not sincere and thought they could find a way through one way or the other have been exposed after the NFF conducted its own MRI a few days ago, and found the results earlier presented by their players before entering the camp did not tally with the requirements of the NFF. The NFF insists on players whose results are between Grade 1 – 4. Players on Grade 5 have been asked to leave the camp.

Garba denied that his camp had been thrown into confusion due to results of the MRI tests.

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“The good news is that most of the players recorded good grades in their MRI results done at the NFF-approved medical centre, and the team is looking forward to a favourable outing at the WAFU B U17 tournament in Accra, Ghana.”

Another MRI test will be conducted by the medical team of the Confederation of African Football before the beginning of the tournament.

The five-time world champions, who are title holders of the WAFU B U17 Championship, will begin the defence of their title against Burkina Faso on the 16 May.

The team has so far played nine friendly games, winning six, drawing two and losing one.

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Behold, it’s Jay Jay Okocha’s anniversary as international footballer

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BY KUNLE SOLAJA

One of the globally acclaimed footballers to have come from Nigeria is Austin Okocha who is better known as ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha.

He belongs to the acclaimed Golden Generation of the Super Eagles which dazzled the continent and the world from 1994 to 1996. Okocha was pivotal and a central performer in the squad.
  His illustrious career in the squad with which he made 68 appearance started on this day 31 years ago on 2 May.

He made his first appearance for the Super Eagles in a World Cup qualifying duel with Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan. Nigeria lost 2-1. Since then, Okocha has had 68 caps.

He remains one of Nigeria’s most iconic footballers as his fame cut across the continent.

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At Eintracht Frankfurt he remains one of the most revered players to have worn the German club’s colour as the fans still have fond memories of him, even over two decades since his departure.

His skill with the ball was a beauty to behold. Even other accomplished players confessed they were inspired by Okocha’s skills.

From being a midfielder he rose to become the captain of not just his English Premier League club, Bolton Wanderers, but also of the Super Eagles.

In March 2004, the legendary Brazilian football icon, Pelé named him among top 125 living footballers in the world. Significantly, only five players from Africa made the list.

    When he moved from Fenerbache of Turkey to 1998 French Cup winners, Paris St. Germaine at a record fee of $17 million transfer fee, the amount sent into the archives the two most expensive transfers earlier made in French soccer history, when Olympic Marseille paid $12.6 million each for Italian international Fabrizio Ravenelli and former Metz star, Robert Pires.

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  Okocha’s sign-up was regarded as a bid at rebuilding the club to recapture the French League. His languid skill and deceptive pace already made him a favourite among French fans who watched him played four World Cup matches. His creative spark was the most noticeable feature of the erratic Super Eagles at the France ’98 World Cup.

   Okocha’s career  begun at home while playing as a 16 year old for Enugu Rangers. But a chance encounter whilst on holiday in Germany launched his international career. He tried out for fourth division club, Borussia Neunkirchen and they snapped him up.

   In 1992 Okocha began his ascent in the German league, joining first division club Eintracht Frankfurt and signing professional terms. It was at Frankfurt that he first began to excite German crowds with his dazzling dribbling skills and drew the attention of European agents.

  A £1million move to Turkish outfit Fenerbahce was the result in 1996 and Okocha helped his new side to the league title in his first season, but just two seasons later he was on the move again in a staggering $17million switch to Paris St. Germain, making him the most expensive Nigerian footballer ever.

   After seeing out his contract with the French giants, Okocha was available on a free transfer – hence the rumoured £3.3million-a-year wages he was reported to be demanding from Bolton Wanderers. It is testament to Sam Allardyce’s negotiation skills that he was able to convince the midfielder to drop his high demands and join the English Premiership outfit.

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  At Bolton, he was like a cult hero. “Jay Jay Okocha – so good they named him twice”, was a common chant by Bolton fans. This was the attitude of  fans towards the gifted Nigerian after the skilful midfielder played the lead role in securing the Trotters Barclaycard Premiership status in his debut season at the club. The Nigerian helped Bolton to one of their most successful seasons ever during the 2003/04 campaign. For 131 years, Bolton Wanderers had wandered in the wilderness.

   The 2003/04 was undoubtedly the best season the club ever had. Okocha was part of that historic moment. In the past, it was common to see Bolton Wanderers slipping into relegation almost every other season. Before Okocha’s arrival at the Reebok Stadium, Bolton Wanderers hardly ever spent three consecutive seasons in the top division.

   After a slow start to his Bolton career Okocha came into his own in the second half of the season, thrilling crowds with his tricks and pleasing Sam Allardyce with his match winning performances. Bolton’s Player of the Season had many memorable moments throughout the 2002/03 campaign, but his most important contribution was the winning goal against relegation rival’s West Ham at the Reebok.

  As if to prove his talent, Okocha was honoured with the BBC’s African Player of the Year award for two consecutive seasons. The player who once featured for Nigeria at Mauritius ’93 African Youth Championship moved to SC Qatar at the close of the 2005/06 season.

  At the close of the 2006 season, he ranked next to Muda Lawal in the number of international appearances for Nigeria.

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  The high-point of his career was the scoring of the historical 1,000th goal of the African Cup of Nations.  This he did at Monastir, Tunisia, when he converted a penalty kick to put the score-line at 2-0 in a 4-0 defeat of South Africa.

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Nigerian Football

NFF cuts Enyimba’ point haul by two

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Two points have been chalked off from the 55 that Enyimba currently have after 32 match days.

This is sequel to the decision of the NFF disciplinary committee which upturned the victory that Enyimba had over Doma United in a March 10 game.

  The match was disrupted after 88 minutes with the scoreline at 0-0. Then Enyimba scored a goal which  was initially admitted, then the referee consulted with the Assistant Referee 1 who raised his flag for an offside positioning. The referee agreed that the goal was scored from an offside position.

The referee was faulted for using an unorthodox  means of consulting an Outside  Broadcasting Van outside the stadium main bowl to arrive at a decision.

The NFF has therefore ruled that the result of the match at the point of the restart of the game after over ruling the goal scored as offside is hereby upheld at (0-0).

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Enyimba though still second, are tied on points with Remo Stars as both have the same points and goal difference. Remo Stars which secured a double over Enyimba in the on-going league.

Remo Stars also have a game at hand.

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