Governing Bodies
Nigeria leans on project manager Ifeanyi Okowa for 21st National Sports Festival
BY CHIDO NWAKANMA
“Asaba 2022 will be the best in terms of infrastructure and others that will be in place in the next few months. We have the personnel to stage a fun-filled and friendly sports festival from the beginning to the end”.
Host governor Dr Ifeanyi Okowa pledged in 2021 to deliver to Nigeria a superlative National Sports Festival as the Federal Ministry of Sports awarded the hosting rights to the twenty-first national sports festival to Asaba, the Delta State capital. There is excitement in the sports community as they look forward to a positive manifestation of the words of Ifeanyi Okowa.
High expectations follow the prospects of Asaba 2022 running from 2 through 15 November 2022. Those expectations rely on the tried and tested Human Capacity management principle that past performance is a predictor of potential. The other expression is “the taste of the pudding is in the eating”.
The sports community has tasted and tested Okowa’s capacity in sports policy and administration. Plaudits attend each one. He walks in what persons in communication recognize as above-the-line, below-the-line and through the line within sports.
Okowa is a sports lover and patriot who intervened many times to save Nigeria blushes when it wavered on the hosting of the African Athletics Meet in 2018. Our country pledged to host, then began fumbling and wombling, as Coach Fanny Amun famously described dithering. Okowa stepped to the rescue.
Before and after that, Okowa is one governor who rallies to the national call for the training and equipping of our sports team. He took on the task of grooming twelve athletes for the Tokyo Olympics. Two did very well, including Ese Brume of Delta State.
These below-the-line building efforts hardly cut ice with the skeptical public nowadays. Nigerians have become like the biblical Thomas insistent on seeing and touching. Okowa offers a grand edifice for such persons to see.
The Stephen Keshi Stadium Asaba is a testimony and testament to the project management acumen of Ifeanyi Okowa. He converted a dream of Delta State for 17 years into the reality of a stadium that serves the local, national, and international sports community. Yes, building of the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba took 17 years until a determined Okowa broke the jinx.
By delivering the stadium, Okowa saved Nigeria embarrassment. The country then hosted the African Senior Athletics Championships, Asaba 2018, from 1-5 August 2018. It was a masterclass in project management.
First, several hiccups hit the first few days of the competition. Critics went to town to excoriate the governor, the Local Organising Committee, Delta State government.
Logistics management suffered under the management of the National Sports Commission. Athletes screamed. The media amplified it, and columnists on print and online went to town.
There were critical glitches at the commencement with flight connections for athletes. The Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, engaged chartered flights to solve the problem, though it was not the remit of the State Government to handle that aspect of the logistics. At the end of the competition, there were no further incidents with flights or accommodation with the State Government taking charge. Indeed, by the time the games commenced, the initial disappointment caused by the airport delay had become a distant memory. Instantly, some of the athletes and visiting journalists changed their tune. For instance, Wesley Botton, one of the journalists, tweeted: “After a horribly wobbly start, the Local Organising Committee pulled through today at the African Championship.”
Fifty-two countries participated in Asaba 2018. It was five more countries than at the previous tournament. Eight hundred athletes in attendance created a tournament record. Events in contest increased from 44 to 46.
Stephen Keshi Stadium boasted luxurious new tracks that passed the certification tests of the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) and the Confederation of African Athletics weeks before the games commenced. Asaba 2018 complied with all rules guiding international athletic championships.
Stephen Keshi Stadium is currently one of the few stadia in Nigeria with fully covered stands. It has high-quality warm-up tracks, equipment, and facilities. The stadium that Ifeanyi Okowa built in Asaba is now part of the sporting, cultural and entertainment landmarks, and calendar of Asaba and Delta State.
Now you see why Sports Minister Sunday Dare and the folks in the sports community enthuse about Asaba 2022. Governor Okowa and his team have already promised to deliver a first-rate Games Village and other infrastructure. Work is ongoing.
When a project matters, Nigeria turns to a tested project manager called Dr Ifeanyi Okowa.
World football governing body, FIFA, today clocks its 122nd anniversary, celebrating more than a century of overseeing and expanding the global game.
Founded on May 21, 1904, in Paris, France, FIFA began with just seven member associations — France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
From that modest beginning, the organisation has grown into the most influential sports governing body in the world, with 211 member associations spread across all continents.
Over the decades, FIFA has transformed football into a truly global phenomenon through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Club World Cup, youth tournaments, and developmental programmes aimed at growing the game worldwide.
The organisation has also witnessed remarkable milestones, including the expansion of the men’s World Cup from 13 teams in 1930 to 48 teams beginning from the 2026 edition to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
FIFA’s journey has equally reflected football’s growing influence beyond sport, with the game becoming a major tool for diplomacy, social inclusion, youth empowerment, and economic development across the world.
As FIFA celebrates 122 years of existence, attention is now focused on the future of the game, technological innovations, expanded competitions, women’s football growth, and the continued globalisation of football.
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UEFA has issued a lifetime ban to Petr Vlachovsky, a Czech women’s soccer coach who secretly filmed his players, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
Czech media reported that the coach was convicted in May 2025 and initially received a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban for filming FC Slovacko’s players in changing rooms, the youngest of whom was 17.
In a statement, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) said it had decided to ban Vlachovsky “from exercising any football-related activity for life” following the appointment of an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate allegations of potential misconduct.
“The CEDB further decided to request FIFA to extend the abovementioned ban on a worldwide level and to order the Football Association of the Czech Republic to revoke Mr Petr Vlachovsky’s coaching licence,” the statement added.
FC Slovacko did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Football players’ union FIFPRO welcomed the ban as well as UEFA’s request for world soccer governing body FIFA to impose an international ban on Vlachovsky.
“This outcome sends a strong and necessary message that abusive and inappropriate behaviour has no place in football and that safeguarding the well-being of players must remain a priority at every level of the game,” FIFPRO added in a statement.
Vlachovsky had also previously served as coach of the Czech women’s Under-19s team.
RELATED STORY: https://sportsvillagesquare.com/2026/04/08/outrage-as-male-coach-who-secretly-filmed-women-players-still-free-to-work-in-football/
-Reuters
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Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, the English Football League said on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 to Southampton on aggregate in the semi, have been reinstated and will face Hull City on Saturday in what is dubbed the world’s richest soccer match.
Promotion to the Premier League, even with an immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth in the region of 200 million pounds ($268.10 million) over three seasons.
Southampton, who admitted the charges, were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season.
They have also been deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
“An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Championship play-offs after the club admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training,” the EFL said.
“Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring Clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.
“The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.”
The EFL confirmed that Southampton could appeal against the decision and that “parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May.
“Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the statement said.
‘BORO CALLED FOR SOUTHAMPTON EXPULSION
Middlesbrough had called for Southampton’s expulsion after having a training session at their Rockliffe Park site filmed 48 hours ahead of the first leg of their playoff semi-final with Southampton which ended 0-0.
The north-east club said they welcomed the decision.
“We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct,” the north Middlesbrough said in a statement.
“As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season and were struggling in the early part of this campaign until a storming finish in which they went unbeaten in 19 league games to finish fourth and enter the playoffs.
The south-coast club are the first to fall foul of the Football League’s regulation 127 — brought in after Leeds United were found guilty of spying on Derby County seven years ago, an offence for which they were fined 200,000 pounds.
-Reuters
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