Nigerian Football
NIGERIAN FOOTBALL CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SANUSI CHARGES NIGERIAN COACHES TO BE UPRIGHT, DILIGENT
The General Secretary of Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi has called on Nigerian indigenous coaches to be upright, diligent and alive to their responsibilities while on duty with any of the National Teams or their clubs.
Sanusi, himself a certified coach, made this call on Tuesday when the new executive team of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association paid him a courtesy call at the NFF Secretariat in Abuja.
“I will tell you the home truth because I am also one of you. We have a situation in which some coaches are not alive to their responsibilities.
“We know some of them who
instigate players to agitate unnecessarily, especially in the National Teams,
because they stand to benefit from such agitation. It is not appropriate.
“I hold this body in high esteem, as I made my name in football and not even in academics.
“We will look at the various requests that you have made, including strengthening the Technical Department.
“I can assure you that we will also grant the NFCA an office at the new NFF Office, make even more robust the CAF coaching courses that we have been running and look at the issue of a few National Team coaches that are being owed with a few to offsetting those debts.”
Earlier, NFCA President Isah Ladan Bosso thanked the Nigeria Football Federation for the support and encouragement that the body has continued to enjoy from the Federation, while outlining a number of requests including the need for any expatriate coach employed to work in Nigeria to register with the body before starting on the job.
On the request for the NFCA to be qualified to have a member on the board of the NFF, Dr. Sanusi told the body’s executives to allow the NFF Bill – which is awaiting the assent of Mr. President – to unfold and the NFF Reform Committee to conclude its work to see what is possible.
Bosso, a former Head Coach of the U20 and U23 National Teams at different periods, was in company with Victor Nwakanma (second vice president); Etta Egbe (public relations officer); Diana Asak (welfare officer), Justine Madugu (financial secretary); Danlami Usman Akawu (assistant training officer); Abdulrazaq Usman (auditor); John Sam Obuh (treasurer) and; Stanley Eguma (secretary).
Also at the meeting were Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme (NFF Deputy General Secretary); Bola Oyeyode (Director of Competitions); Bitrus Bewarang (Director of Technical); Charity Kadiri (Director of Finance); Ademola Olajire (Director of Communications); Abdulrafiu Yusuf, Siji Lagunju and Dr. Robinson Okosun (Assistant Directors, Technical) and; Ruth David (Head of Women Football).
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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