Nigerian Football
VIDEO: LEON BALOGUN JOINS COMMON GOAL
Super Eagles’ and Brighton & Hove Albion defender, Leon Balogun has become 68th player to join the growing social impact movement in football, Common Goal. The former Bundesliga player who joined Brighton last summer, has pledged 1% of his Premier League earnings to a collective fund that empowers football for social change organisations throughout the world.
Less than a year and a half since starting, Common Goal has already raised over $1 million and boasts a unique team of 68 male and female players covering six continents.
Balogun is the seventh Premier League player to commit a fraction of their salary to community organisations, following Juan Mata (Manchester United), Charlie Daniels (Bournemouth), Alfie Mawson (Fulham), Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester), Isaac Christie-Davies (Liverpool), and Brighton captain, Bruno Saltor.
Joining them is Tabea Kemme (Arsenal), Jane Ross (West Ham), Tessel Middag (West Ham), Siobhan Chamberlain (Manchester United) and Pauline Bremer (Manchester City) representing female football in England. The only coach to have joined from the UK so far is also a woman, Manchester United Women’s Head Coach, Casey Stoney MBE.
Born and raised in Berlin to a German mother and a Nigerian father, Balogun, 30, has played for several Bundesliga clubs including Hannover, Werder Bremen and most recently Mainz.
At national team level he plays for Nigeria, who he represented at the 2018 World Cup, alongside his Common Goal teammate William Troost-Ekong, of Serie A side Udinese Calcio.
Balogun said: “As football players, we enjoy a high place in society and we have a very important role to play because of this. Joining Common Goal gives me the opportunity to actively help and support people in their communities and open up doors to a better life.”
Brighton captain Bruno, who was one of the first players to join the movement in 2017, welcomed Balogun to the team: “I am thrilled that Leon has been inspired by seeing what we’re achieving in Common Goal and has stepped forward to join us in helping others through football. I hope this will inspire more players in the Premier League, and beyond, to take the pledge.”
The miserable run of Akwa United and Ikorodu City came to an end after six games in the Nigerian Premier League this season. Both teams were initially glued at the bottom of the league table.
They now got respite as Akwa United beat Kano Pillar by 2-0 while Ikorodu City even did what could be considered an upset, beating Bendel Insurance 3-0.
Remo Stars bounced back to the top of the log after a 3-0 defeat of Nasarawa United. Shooting Stars are yet to get their rhythm this season, playing a barren draw with Enyimba in Ibadan.
Kwara United who got their first full points of the season last week after a 1-0 defeat of Remo Stars could not consolidate as they were beaten 1-0 by Abia Warriors.
Heartland under Emmanuel Amuneke are gradually recovering as they got a valuable away draw against El-Kanemi Warriors.
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
It is 75 years since Nigeria’s national football team first played an international match. That was on 8 October 1949 when the first set of Nigeria’s assembly on their return voyage stopped over in Freetown and engaged Sierra Leone in an international football match. Nigeria won 2-0, setting a chain of positive results on 8 October.
The country never lost any competitive duel on that date. More significantly, the Super Eagles first qualified for the World Cup on an 8 October date.
That was in 1993 when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Algeria in the quest for USA ‘94 World Cup.
Nigeria became the first English-speaking African country to qualify for the World Cup. Another significance of the October 8 match at the July 5 Stadium, Algiers is that Nigeria were unbeaten for the first time by Algeria at home.
The only deviation from the 8 October Magic was in 2015 when Nigeria lost 2-0 to Congo in a friendly match.
Twenty-six years after Nigeria’s debut international match, one of Africa’s biggest football nations, Egypt fell to the October 8 magic, losing 4-0 to Nigeria in the last stage of the triangular World Cup qualifying series for Argentina ’78.
Up till October 15, 2013, when Ghana beat Egypt 6-1 in Kumasi, the October 8, 1977 duel with Nigeria remained Egypt’s biggest loss in a World Cup qualifying match.
Before the 1977 duel, Nigeria in 1963 played a friendly match with Liberia in Monrovia. The October 8 magic was active, even in an away match. Nigeria drew 2-2 in their very first encounter with Liberia. It was shortly after the team had, through a protest, upturned a victory by Guinea to pick Nigeria’s very first African Nations’ Cup ticket.
Little wonder then that when FIFA suspended Nigeria in 2010, the world governing body provisionally lifted the ban on October 8!
Nigeria on 8 October
- 1949 – Freetown (Friendly) Sierra Leone 0-2 Nigeria
- 1963 – Monrovia (Friendly) Liberia 2-2 Nigeria
- 1977 – Lagos (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 4-0 Egypt
- 1993 – Algiers (World Cup qualifier) Algeria 1-1 Nigeria… qualify for USA ‘94.
- 2005 – Abuja (World Cup qualifier) Nigeria 5-1 Zimbabwe
- 2010 – FIFA, in apparent respect to the 8 October magic, provisionally lifted a ban imposed on Nigeria.
- 2011 – Abuja (African Nations Cup qualifier) Nigeria 2-2 Guinea. Although undefeated, Nigeria failed to make it to the 2012 African Nations Cup.
- 2015 – D.R. Congo beat Nigeria 2-0 in Visé, Belgium. The ‘October 8 Magic’ is finally broken.
Rivers United have launched themselves to the top of the log at the end of the match day 5 of the Nigeria Premier League. The Port Harcourt side beat Akwa United 2-1 to go afloat after initial leaders, Remo Stars crumbled to a 1-0 defeat at Kwara United in Ilorin on Sunday.
It was Remo Stars’ first defeat in the season. Rivers United are now with 13 points. Stephen Mayo put Rivers United ahead after 31 minutes. But it turned a temporary lead as Akwa United bounced back almost at the blast of the referee’s whistle for the second half.
Friday Apollos levelled up for Akwa United before Ndifreke Effiong Udo scored the winner in the 85th minute.
Sunday Results
- Kwara United 1-0 Remo Stars
- Rangers International 1-0 Abia Warriors
- Heartland FC 2-0 Niger Tornadoes
- Kano Pillars 2-0 Sunshine Stars
- Plateau United 1-0 Ikorodu City
- Rivers United 2-1 Akwa United
- Enyimba 3-0 Katsina United* Suspended
- Nasarawa 0-0 Bayelsa United
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