Nigerian Football
Remo Stars owner, Kunle Soname bags National Award
Avid sports promoter and owner of Nigeria Premier League football team, Remo Stars, Hon. Adekunle Soname has been rewarded for his commitment to human capital development.
He is one of those honoured with National Awards and he is conferred with the award of Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR)
The Ikenne-born business man and member of the Interim Management Committee of the Nigerian Premier League has made a success in virtually all endeavours and he is well known for his cheerful disposition, humility and generosity.
He is also known as a game-changer whose support is not limited to football.
Last year, through his Bet9ja outfit which is easily the most popular in the gaming business, he sponsored the South East Bet9ja Badminton Championship where close to 60 players featured.
The championship brought up budding badminton players some of who later made marks at the last National Sports Festival in Asaba.
Before then, the self effacing sportsman through his ValueJet airlines which was then in its formative period, sponsored an international road race in Ogun State in 2019.
In an era where private ownership of football clubs is becoming a high risk, he raised the bar with his Remo Stars which has become a model football club in Nigeria.
Equipped with its own all-covered stadium, the club boasts of easily the best turfs in Nigeria. He piloted the club to international level, featuring in the 2022/23 CAF Confederation Cup.
That was the first time in more than 30 years that a one-man owned football club featured in a continental competition
His club structure features a football academy which is the nursing ground for Nigeria’s football stars. The 1998 Africa Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba was full of awe when he made a tour of the facilities of the academy where players of Beyond Limits are housed at two per room.
The residential buildings at Kunle Soname’s outfit have 56 rooms for junior and senior players accommodating 112 footballers.
It has five semi-detached blocks of 10 units, two bedroom coaches accommodation, a restaurant for players and officials as well as an administrative block comprising of offices, conference room, training classroom and reception.
The block is equipped with panoramic lift to first-floor which is the table tennis centre.
Others are sports centre block of the Remo Stars Stadium facility comprising of a gym, clinic, swimming pool, hydrotherapy chamber and a 30-room hotel with panoramic lift.
Also at the model arena is a tournament pitch with 10,000 capacity covered pavilions, three training pitches, 2,000 capacity car parks and good internal road.
Soname is possibly the only Nigerian that runs two clubs locally and in Europe, as he is also the owner of Portugal’s Clube Desportivo Feirense which is commonly known as CD Feirense.
He remains one of the silent billionaires in Nigeria who has contributed immensely in promoting sports in the country. He has touched the lives of many youths.
Four months ago, one of the products of his Beyond Limit team, Ebenezer Akinsanmiro signed for Italian giants, Inter Milan.
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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