Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side Kano Pillars, will have to look for a new home by ground following the decision of the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development to ban the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja from hosting domestic football league matches and other competitions.
Kano Pillars were banished to the nation’s capital by the League Management Company (LMC) following violence by irate fans during Matchday 23 fixture against neighbours Katsina United at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano on Saturday, April 16.
The Ministry of Sports headed by Honourable Sunday Dare gave the directive in a statement signed by Mohammed Manga, who is the Director of Press and Public Relations of the ministry.
The statement explained that the decision was to ensure that the pitch is in good shape for use for international matches of the national teams.
“To keep the main pitch of the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in good enough shape for use for international matches of the national teams, the Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare has directed that the stadium be closed to usage by club sides for any domestic competition.
The Stadium will henceforth be used only for matches involving the national teams. This directive takes immediate effect,” the statement read.
The Nigeria Football Federation, (NFF) has informed fans and supporters of the Super Eagles that Thursday’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying encounter against the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone at the MKO Abiola National Stadium, Abuja will be played behind closed doors.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria will face the Leone Stars of Sierra Leone at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium, Abuja on matchday 1 of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations starting by 5 pm on Thursday, 9th June 2022.
The General Secretary of NFF, Dr Mohammed Sanusi in Abuja earlier today, pleaded with Nigerians to adhere to the ban while reminding them that such punishment is from the world football governing body, FIFA as a result of the chaos that ensued after Nigeria failed to qualify for Qatar 2022 in a 1-1 draw against Ghana.
“We want to appeal to our very passionate football fans to take heart for this one game. It is only a one-match ban, after which they can again start trooping out to support the Super Eagles. The match against Sierra Leone will be without fans as a consequence of what happened after the match against the Ghanaians.
“Nonetheless, we want to urge all our football fans, and indeed all Nigerians, to support the team whichever way they can and pray for success against the Sierra Leoneans on Thursday.” Sanusi appealed to Nigerians.
Four days after playing the Leone Stars, the Super Eagles will tackle ‘The Falcons and True Parrots of São Tomé and Príncipe in Morocco.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced the appointment of Mr José Santos Peseiro as the new Head Coach of the Nigeria National Male Team, the Super Eagles.
The appointment of Mr Peseiro is with immediate effect, subject to his signature on the terms and conditions proposed by the NFF.
Recall that the NFF had earlier named Peseiro as Super Eagles’ substantive head coach last December following the sack of Franco-German, Gernot Rohr. Peseiro was expected to take charge of the Super Eagles after the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon. However, Augustine Eguavoen was given the Super Eagles job on an interim basis following Super Eagles’ elimination from the AFCON.
Following, Eguavoen’s inability to qualify Nigeria for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, after losing to the Black Stars of Ghana, he stepped down from his role as interim manager and returned to his previous role as technical director of the Super Eagles.
José Vitor dos Santos Peseiro, aged 62, is the Portuguese Nation who played as a striker in his playing days and has wide and has coached top Clubs and National Teams across Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. He has coached at Sporting Lisbon, FC Porto, Panathinaikos, Rapid Bucharest, Sporting Braga, Victoria Guimaraes, Al-Hilal, Al-Wahda, Al-Ahly Cairo, Sharjah FC and Real Madrid (assistant coach during the Galacticos era), and also as Head Coach of the Saudi Arabian and Venezuelan National Teams.
Peseiro will be assisted by a backroom staff consisting of Finidi George as the first assistant coach; Salisu Yusuf as the second assistant, coupled with the responsibility of being the Head Coach of CHAN and U-23 teams; Eboboritse Uwejamomere, the third assistant coach and the match analyst and; Ike Shorounmu as the goalkeeper trainer.
Nigeria’s new coach, Peseiro will be on the touchline as the coach of the Super Eagles for the first time during the upcoming friendly against Ecuador and Mexico in the United States of America at the El Tri at the AT & T Stadium in Dallas, the State of Texas on Saturday, 28th May before flying to New Jersey to confront Ecuador at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison on Thursday, 2nd June.
Cc It is believed the NFF had hired Peseiro, based on a recommendation from fellow Portuguese Jose Mourinho. The president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Melvin Pinnick admitted last December, that they consulted Mourinho while scouting for Rohr’s replacement.
In a reaction to the ongoing court case that has stopped the NFF AGM from holding, Chairman of Ekiti State Football Association, Bayo Olanlege has thrown up a challenge to all genuinely concerned stakeholders to ensure elections are held into a new NFF board.
Speaking exclusively with foremost WhatsApp sports group, Nigeria Sports Centre, Olanlege stated that contrary to opinions expressed in the Nigerian football community, the current statutes of the NFF is not lopsided.
” I am miffed that a group of stakeholders took the Nigeria Football Federation to court with a claim that the almost ending tenure is illegal. Very unfortunate that they realized this after more than three years of the existence of the Nigeria Football Federation Executive Committee that came into being after the Katsina Elective Congress.
” The claim no matter how real and genuine is belated, all that I suggest should be the focus now is how we all as stakeholders set the Nigeria Football Federation Elections process ball rolling,” Olanlege remarked.
“There is another claim that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Congress is not well composed and does not give a full representation of all stakeholders. To this, I wish to state that I feel the opposite is the case and that the NFF Congress as at today, represents majority of the stakeholders within the Nigeria football ecosystem.
The awards winning youthful football administrator continued; “The Players Union, Referees Association, Nigeria League Bodies and the Coaches Association all have their representatives while the States Football Ecosystem (Referees Councils, State chapters of Players Union, etc.) are also represented by the State Chairmen and Secretaries. Therefore, the claim that the State Football Associations have an unfair advantage over others is to me, quite untrue.
“This inference is drawn from the fact that the smallest functioning unit of Association Football in a nation (Nigeria Football Federation), is the Local Football Council (LFC). Each of the LFCs are expected to have been composed of all the major football stakeholders right from the local government level, including the Referees Societies at the LGAs).
“Apart from the ones stated earlier, military and paramilitary, local club owners, supporters club and football event sponsors, are expected to have been part of the composition of the Local Football Councils (LFCs), where two representatives, that is, the chairman and the secretary of each bodies, go on to join their colleagues to form the State FAs.
Olanlege emphatically stated that it is erroneous to myopically deduce that State FAs composed of representatives, in this case, the chairmen and the secretaries of all local and state football stakeholders, have not captured all that are being suggested by some to have presence in the NFF Congress of Executive Board.
” Today, there are State FA Chairmen that are ex international footballers such as Patrick Pascal, MON of Bauchi State. He is also a member of the Players Union, irrespective of the fact that the union still have Tijani Babangida, MON, as a representative in the NFF Congress. Also, there are State FA Chairmen who are lawyers and have been part of football at local level until they rose to state level and some, now at the Federal level.
Olanlege went ahead to reveal that he rose to his present status with a background as a long standing member of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club for 14 years and then went on to establish and fund a local club called Phoenix Athletics Sports Club, which made it possible for him as a club owner become the State FA Chairman.
” State FA Chairmen evolved from the local level, the core unit of the football system itself, there are lawyers, teachers, civil servants, club owners, supporters club members, local football competition financiers, ex footballers, sports writers and others. How then won’t this group be the main body of the Football Federation?” he asked rhetorically.
He continued; “If all the leagues in Nigeria should have representatives at the Nigeri a Football Federation Congress, as suggested by some, then Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) will have 20, Nigeria National League (NNL) teams will have 46, Nigeria Women Football League and Nationwide League One will have a combined representatives of more than 100 teams. What a NFF Congress that would be, alarming right?”.
He concluded by describing the actions of the players union as a drama and charade. And it is currently a hindrance rather than a facilitator to the change requested for by many Nigeria football stakeholders.
” The case currently in the Bayelsa State court has put a hold on the Nigeria Football Federation Annual General Assembly where the process for NFF Elections would be set in motion, hence, my thinking is that there might not be any elections after all,” he added conclusively.
Barrister Paul Edeh has fulfilled his financial promise to the Flamingoes after they beat Egypt 6-0 over two legs, in the penultimate round of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
An elated Barr. Edeh showed appreciation to the NFF for the opportunity they gave the young girls to represent the country and he also thanked the coaches and staff for their commitment.
“My appreciation goes to the NFF, for giving young people like you the opportunity to be able to represent us and represent us well. I also want to thank the staff who daily feed you with talents, improving on your competence to make sure you do not only represent Nigeria but also represent yourselves.
“I will always maintain that anytime you go for a tournament or a competition, right in front of you is the name of your country, Nigeria Football Federation, and you carry that banner representing Nigeria. But one unique thing is behind you is your number and the name of your parents, that is your family name. This means you are both representing your nation and also representing your family and no person here would want the name of their family to be soiled nor the name of their country to be brought to disrepute and that is why indeed you have done very well.”
“You will recall that the last time before your game against Egypt, I had committed, I said that any goal you score, 100,000 naira. I was bragging because I knew the Egyptian team was a very tough one. You scored four goals. The commitment I made was just for that match. However, when the second match came and I spoke with some of your coaching crew and they [told me that the match will be tough]. I promised another hundred thousand for any goal. I was prepared to pay to honour my word. “
“What I’m doing today is not because I have so much, but because I feel young girls like you should be able to be rewarded and encouraged to do more. We are in a society where attention is given more to the boys’ game compared to the women. But all through this period, the girls have not disappointed us. Super Falcons have qualified, Falconets have qualified and now, Flamingoes will qualify.”
“On behalf of my foundation, Ratels Sports Development Foundation, which is inclined to support grassroots sports, my attention is focused basically on young people like you. Those who have made it and arrived, thank God for their lives but those of you who want to take over from them we will keep supporting you. It is not because we have so much, but just to encourage you. I want to assure you that before the next match, I am still going to talk with officials at the NFF and see the commitment we can make to further boost your effort to ensure that you win the next match.”
Barr. Paul Edeh gave the team 600,000 naira and promised to give the coaching crew $1000 if they qualify the team for the World Cup. He further renewed his promise of one goal for a hundred thousand naira. He further encouraged the girls to learn from the coaches’ wealth of experience.
Responding on behalf of the players, team captain, Alvine Da Zossu thanked Barr. Edeh for his love for them as a father and his moral and financial support.
“On behalf of the players, we like to say a very big thank you to you. Thank you, for not only fulfilling your promise but coming all the way here to talk to us like your children. We like to say a very big thank you, and also I will like to use this medium to thank our officials and our coaches because, without them, this won’t have been possible, we wouldn’t have scored more goals, we wouldn’t have made Nigerians proud. We want to say thank you to our coaches and officials for impacting all they’ve been doing for us and making to become better players and we pray that in our next match, we are going to do more. Thank you very much, sir.”
The Flamingoes are in camp in preparation for their final game against Ethiopia in a bid to qualify for the World Cup in India. They will play away against Ethiopia on May 20 before the final leg in Nigeria
The Executive Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation has approved the recommendation of its Technical and Development Sub-Committee for the appointment of Salisu Yusuf as the Head Coach of the Super Eagles B as well as the U23 team on Thursday, April 15.
This comes after the NFF sacked the Technical Crew after it failed to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar after playing a 1-1 draw with Ghana at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
Yusuf, who was Head Coach of the Super Eagles B when the team emerged runner-up in the African Nations Championship in Morocco in 2018, will work with Kennedy Boboye (Assistant Coach); Fatai Osho (Assistant Coach); Abubakar Bala Mohammed (Assistant Coach); Fidelis Ikechukwu (Assistant Coach); Eboboritse Uwejamomere (Match Analyst) and Ike Shorounmu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer) and Suleiman Shuaibu (Goalkeepers’ Trainer 2).
In other appointments, Ladan Bosso retains his position as Head Coach of the U20 Boys, Nduka Ugbade was named Head Coach for the U17 Boys, Golden Eaglets and Patrick Bassey will be Head Coach for the U13/15 Boys known as Future Eagles.
The NFF also stated that a new Head Coach for the Super Eagles will be announced and officially unveiled once the processes for his engagement and contract signing are concluded.
The President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick has that he would not resign but see out the remaining days till the end of his tenure
NFF President, Amaju Pinnick
Pinnick has been faced with heavy backlashes from Nigerians over the failure of the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup after they were eliminated by Ghana in the play-offs.
“Some people say, ‘oh, take responsibility and resign.’ I’m a soldier, I’ll stay till the end of my tenure.”
“Taking responsibility doesn’t mean you are guilty, it’s just a courtesy out of maturity and out of the fact that you don’t want to ascribe blame to your subordinates. It’s quite unfortunate knowing that you didn’t do anything, knowing that you had sleepless nights.”
Source: Ripples Nigeria
Meanwhile, the NFF President after receiving a nomination from CAF has been appointed to the maiden Working Group on Normalisation Committees by FIFA.
The coach of the Nigerian National Women’s team, Super Falcons Coach Randy Waldrum has praised the team for their performance against the Canadian Women team and has remarked that he is proud of them.
This comes after the Falcons played a 2-2 draw with the Olympic Champions at the Starlight Stadium in Langford earlier today as preparations for the Women’s African Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The Super Falcons and the Canadian Women National team.
“It’s huge for our team and our country to get this result against such a quality team. We all understand how the game went and they created a lot of opportunities and I thought we fought hard in staying better collectively a little bit defensively in the last game we played but I thought we created more chances in this game.”
“The first goal came from a set-piece but the second one came up off a couple of players and had a moment of some individual creativity. Our biggest joy here is getting everyone here playing collectively together.”
“I’m just really proud of the result, we also want to thank them for the opportunity to come, they have been a gracious host and we have so much respect for what they have done and for the program that they have and that is what we aspire to be.”
“Individually, we have some very creative midfielders. Athletically, our players can be a handful with their quickness and their speed and so I think we can cause problems for teams. The area I think we need to improve on is our overall gameplay, our organisation, and how we want to play. That takes time and is getting better from a year ago when we took over.” He added
The President of the Nigerian Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick was on Tuesday, April 12 nominated by the CONFEDERATION AFRICAINE DE FOOTBALL (CAF) president, Dr Patrice Motsepe to be a member of the newly established FIFA Working Group on Normalisation Committees.
CAF PRESIDENT, Patrice Motsepe
This was made public in a letter directed to the office of the President of the NFF and signed by the General Secretary of CAF, Véron Mosengo-Omba.
“It is our distinct pleasure o inform you that CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe has nominated you to be part of the newly established FIFA Working Group on Normalisation Committees.
“This joint working group, to be led by FIFA, will analyse the applicable legal framework and the governance structure, mandate and mission of Normalisation Committees, and make suggestions to the FIFA Council accordingly.”
“We are confident that your nomination to this working group will positively contribute to the pertinent, and often essential, the role played by Normalisation Committees in support of federations and towards the fulfilment of good governance practices.”
Meanwhile, the NFF President has been under fire after the Super Eagles FA led to secure a ticket to the Qatar 2022 World Cup after playing a 1-1 draw with the Black Stars of Ghana at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja.
Amaju Pinnick, NFF President
Pinnick however jettisoned his plans for running for a third term in office saying “Do I want to run? It’s a no-no. My family is very key to me. They said it’s taking a toll on me and the family.
“They believe that I’ve done my best, and it’s time to move on. It’s a regrettable decision, but it’s the best,”.
Before going into the next election of the NFF Executive Committee scheduled for September 2022, the President of the Nigeria Players Union, Tijani Babangida (MON) has called for a restructuring of the NFF Executive Committee to be more inclusive representing all the key important stakeholders of football on equal representation for the promotion of justice, peace, equity and fair play
According to the president, ” the current Structure of the NFF board is deficient on so many fronts. The current Structure dominated by the Chairmen of the state Football Association to the detriment of other important stakeholders does not portray the game of Football as the most democratic game in the world.
The President of the players union said that the current dominance of the Exco by the Football Association Chairmen has its roots in the faulty nature of the composition and distribution of votes amongst the five distinct members of the NFF according to the Provisions of article 10:1 of the NFF Statutes in the Congress of the NFF where only the FA’s has 37 votes out of the 44 votes must be addressed if we must move forward and make progress
There is no doubt that the current structure of the Congress and the Board has continuously promoted and encouraged election malpractices such as vote-buying with its negative effects on the quality of members of the board which robs quality decisions making and good governance
Going forward the President is canvassing for a structure that is less cumbersome, less expensive, more democratic, transparent and more inclusive of all major stakeholders based on equality.
What I mean is that we should adopt a System and structure where the Board is composed of representatives of only duly and democratically elected persons of the various stakeholders such as the Football Association, the leagues, the Players Union, Coaches Association, Nigeria Referees Association, Sportswriters Association, etc, who will now be responsible to elect the president of NFF and other key Officials amongst themselves.
By this, the election will be less expensive and devoid of manipulation and guarantee quality and professionalism This is the angle the union is set to Project amongst other options that will guarantee fair play and justice amongst the major stakeholders of the game.
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