Nigerian Football
Super Eagles’ Ola Aina among players on Premier League released list
Ola Aina, a Super Eagles’ full back who plays for Fulham is among the scores of players scheduled to be released this summer by the 20 English Premiership clubs.
There is still time for him to pen a new contract at the club as it’s not uncommon for players to agree new terms before their deals actually expire – usually on 30 June.
There are also some other players of Nigerian extraction on the list. They include Layton Ndukwu of Leicester City, Babatomiwa Solanke of West Bromwich Albion and the trio of Olatunji Akinola, Daniel Jinadu and Joshua Okotcha at West Harm United.
Below is the name of every player set for release.
Arsenal
David Luiz
Joseph Olouw
Aston Villa
Lewis Brunt
Bradley Burton
Jack Clarke
Ahmed Elmohamady
Charlie Farr
Ben Guy
Tom Heaton
Callum Rowe
Harrison Sohna
Michael Tait
Neil Taylor
Jake Walker
Brighton & Hove Albion
Danny Cashman
Andrew Crofts
Peter Gwargis
Jose Izquierdo
Kipras Kazukolovas
Roco Rees
Stefan Vukoje
Burnley
Connor Barrett
Robbie Brady
Jordan Cropper
Ismaila Diallo
Marcel Elva-Fountaine
Mace Goodridge
Arman Taranis
Chelsea
Jamal Blackman
Izzy Brown
Willy Caballero
Declan Frith
Danilo Pantic
Marco van Ginkel
Jack Wakely
Crystal Palace
Brandon Aveiro
Lewis Bryon
Gary Cahill
Nathaniel Clyne
Scott Dann
Kian Flanagan
Kevin Gonzalez Quintero
Harlem Hale
Stephen Henderson
Wayne Hennessey
Lewis Hobbs
Rohan Luthra
Alfie Matthews
James McCarthy
Jacob Russell,
Jude Russell
Mamadou Sakho
Andros Townsend
Patrick van Aanholt
Joel Ward
Connor Wickham
Samuel Woods
Everton
Dennis Adeniran
Muhamed Besic
Yannick Bolasie
Josh Bowler
Bobby Carroll
Callum Connolly
Nicolas Hansen
Josh King
Con Ouzounidis
Theo Walcott
Fulham
Ola Aina
Marcus Bettinelli
Ryan De Havilland
Lesley Duru
Jayden Harris
Kevin McDonald
Jaydn Mundle-Smith
Luca Murphy
Julian Schwarzer
Martell Taylor-Crossdale
Leeds United
Gaetano Berardi
Ouasim Bouy
Barry Douglas
Niklas Edris
Cole Gibbon
Eunan O’Kane
Matthew Turner
Leicester City
Azeem Abdulai,
Dempsey Arlott-John,
Oliver Michael Bosworth
Christian Fuchs
Matthew James
Darnell Johnson
Wes Morgan
Layton Ndukwu
Darragh O’Connor
Liverpool
Liam Coyle
Joseph Hardy
Abdulrahman Sharif
Jack Walls
Manchester City
Sergio Aguero
Garcia Bernabe
Eric Garcia
Daniel Grimshaw
Fernandinho
Louie Moulden
Felix Nmecha
Manchester United
Jacob Carney
Joel Pereira
Mark Helm
Arnau Puigmal Martinez
Sergio Romero
Taylor, Max Taylor
Aliou Traore
Newcastle United
Owen Bailey
Andy Carroll
Ludwig Francillette
Lucas Gamblin
Florent Indalecio
George Rounsfell
Henri Saivet
Kyle Scott
Christian Atsu
Oliver Walters
Sheffield United
Ashton Hall
Phil Jagielka
John Lundstram
Simon Moore
Jack Rodwell
Tommy Williams
Southampton
David Agbontohoma
Ryan Bertrand
Lucas Defise
Jake Hesketh
Pascal Kpohomouh
Kingsley Latham
Kameron Ledwidge
James Morris
Thomas O’Connor
Tommy Scott
Josh Sims
Tottenham Hotspur
Keenan Ferguson
Paulo Gazzaniga
George Marsh,
Rodel Richards
Jack Roles
Danny Rose
Aaron Skinner
Kazaiah Sterling
Shilow Tracey
West Bromwich Albion
Charlie Austin
Zak Brown
Nicholas Clayton-Phillips
Cheikh Diaby
Tyrese Dyce
Samuel French
Kieran Gibbs
Kamil Grosicki
George Harmon
Branislav Ivanovic
Andy Lonergan
Lee Peltier
Hal Robson-Kanu
Tom Sharpe
Babatomiwa Solanke
Finley Thorndike
Aksum White
Harry Williams
West Ham United
Sean Adarkwa
Olatunji Akinola
Fabian Balbuena
Samuel Caige
Daniel Jinadu
Alfie Lewis
Joshua Okotcha
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sadou Diallo
Cyriaque Mayounga-Ngolou
John Ruddy
Nathaniel Wan
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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