Nigerian Football
Battle for continental tickets reaches a crescendo

The Nigeria Premier Football League is on the home stretch this season with direct confrontations of table toppers and also those battling against relegation. The teams have all to fight for as their destinies are still within their hand reach.
For the table-topping battle, second-placed Rivers United will be hosting leaders, Remo Stars. Former African powerhouse, Shooting Stars are hoping to return to the continental competition for the first time in 26 years.
After recent fluctuating fortunes, they hope to regain steam as they face former battler against relegation-turned top four aspirants, Ikorodu United. A win for Shooting Stars will see them in top contention to return to the continent where they last featured in 1999.
Remo Stars, even with a match still outstanding will remain on top if they lose their away match to Rivers United. But losing may not be an option for them as a win will put them at the cusp of their first elite national success since bringing the first NPFL match to the now sportingly bubbling Ikenne on 26 December 2021.
The clash with Rivers United will undoubtedly be the most challenging in the remaining five matches in the season.
Abia Warriors who started the season with a home loss are now seeing a silver lining in the possibility of picking a continental ticket which they missed last season after losing in the President Federation Cup. This Sunday, they face Enyimba in Aba in an Abia State derby.
A win will secure their current third place. But a loss could see them losing the spot to Shooting Stars who are hosting Ikorodu City in a Southwest derby. A win by Enyimba could see the former multiple champions bouncing back into the reckoning to get a top-three slot as the season winds down.
Just as the battle is fierce at the top, so also is it tough at the backwaters as teams fight for a lifeline against relegation.
The 19th-placed Nasarawa United host fellow relegation battler, Akwa United. It is a relegation battle that could save or make a team sink deeper into the abyss. Nasarawa will be banking on home support. But Akwa United has shown resilience in recent times and could come out of the battle with at least a point.
Matchday 32 Fixtures:
- Bendel Insurance 0-0 Enugu Rangers
- Heartland FC 2-0 Kano Pillars
- Rivers United vs Remo Stars
- Shooting Stars vs Ikorodu City
- Plateau United vs Kwara United
- Lobi Stars vs Sunshine Stars
- Katsina United vs Bayelsa United
- Niger Tornadoes vs El-Kanemi Warriors
- Nasarawa United vs Akwa United
- Enyimba vs Abia Warriors
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Nigerian Football
Financial rainfall awaits Nigeria’s Flamingos for every goal scored in Algeria

The Nigeria U17 women’s team has been given incentives to make it to the Women’s World Cup for the eighth time.
The team, Flamingos, who arrived in Algiers in the early hours of Wednesday aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul, are highly inspired by the imminence of another FIFA World Cup ticket as well as further financial windfall from the Nigeria Football Federation and billionaire business mogul Kunle Soname.
Soname gifted the young players and their officials the sum of N4 million (one million naira for every goal) following their commanding win over the North Africans at the Remo Stars Stadium on Saturday, while the NFF gave out the sum of N2 million (five hundred thousand naira for every goal).
President of NFF, Ibrahim Musa Gusau and Soname have both confirmed that the same financial incentives are in place for the second leg in Blida on Friday.
“Our objective is clear – to win the FIFA World Cup ticket. That is the big motivation.
“Yet, we have been further incentivised by the monetary rewards. My girls will go all out on Friday night,” Head Coach Bankole Olowookere said.
Olowookere, who led the Flamingos to their last two World Cup ventures, will most likely rely on first-leg two-goal heroine Queen Joseph, lone-goal scorer Zainab Raji and Kaosarat Olanrewaju to start at the fore, with Shakirat Moshood, Muinat Rotimi and Philomena Isaiah supplying the passes from the midfield.
Goalkeeper and captain Christiana Uzoma and defenders Azeezat Oduntan, Hannah Ibrahim, Christiana Sunday and Jumai Adebayo are also likely to start.
The Confederation of African Football has selected Cameroonian official Marie Noelle Etong to be the referee, with her compatriots Marcelle Teikeu and Innocentia Ntangti as assistant referee 1 and fourth official, respectively, while Chadian Ngarassoum Victorine will be assistant referee 2.
Oumou Souleymane Kane from Mauritania will be the commissioner, and Sabelo Maphosa-Sibindi from Zimbabwe will be in the role of referee assessor.
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Nigerian Football
Former WAFU President, Ogufere mourns Christian Chukwu

Former president of the initially 15-member West African Football Union (WAFU), Chief Jonathan Boytie Ogufere, has expressed his heartfelt condolences over the recent death of former national team captain and coach, Christian ‘Chairman’ Chukwu.
He remarked that the erstwhile Enugu Rangers’ defence stalwart will ‘be dearly missed’. In a personally signed letter of condolence, Ogufere described Chukwu, who died on Saturday, April 12, in Enugu after a brief illness at 74, as a ‘hero of our time and a friend’.
The nonagenarian recalled with nostalgia how he nearly recruited the young Chukwu for his P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu, adding he was impressed with how the ‘Field Marshal Christian Chukwuemeka ‘Chairman ‘ Chukwu (MFR), conducted himself throughout his career as he led both the national team, the then Green Eagles and his beloved Enugu Rangers to many conquests.
“I join numerous others to mourn the transition of the legendary Christian Chukwu, a hero of our time and friend,” the Ugbugba of Okpe Kingdom wrote.
“As one of the young academicals discovered after the end of the Civil War in 1970, I tried to enlist into my club, the P & T Vasco da Gama Football Club of Enugu but he was fair and frank in informing me that he had already joined Enugu Ranges Football Club, and I respected that attitude. From the rivalries between the two clubs, his exploits as a central defender were very visible.”
He continued: “Christian Chukwu emerged at the national level as a trustworthy and formidable captain of the national team who led by example.
“He was one of the heroes during the Golden age of Nigerian football when I was one of the Board Members of the Nigeria Football Association under the chairmanship of Chief Sunday Dankaro as Nigeria won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1980 for the first time where Christian Chukwu as captain of the Green Eagles was declared the best player of the tournament. He led the national team in several battles, which endeared him to millions of football lovers.
“After his playing days, he showed his talents through coaching in Nigeria and abroad.
“I express my sincere condolences to the family he left behind, the football family and the country in general. He will be dearly missed.
“May the good Lord grant his noble soul eternal rest,” he noted.
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Nigerian Football
Remo Stars maintain ‘7Up’ lead over Rivers United

Remo Stars are coasting to what will be their greatest moment ever, a win of the Nigeria Premier Football League title, as they recorded a 1-0 win over Shooting Stars in Ibadan in a match played behind closed doors.
In doing so, they achieved their sixth double of the season, having earlier beaten Shooting Stars in the first stanza of the league.
They maintained the seven-point lead over second-placed Rivers United, who also beat Sunshine Stars 1-0 in Port Harcourt.
After a ding-dong affair, Alex Oyowah scored the vital goal for Remo Stars from a right-wing cross from Ismail Sodiq.
In another match, Ikorodu City continued to work tenaciously to obtain a continental ticket as they held El Kanemi to a 1-1 draw.
SUNDAY RESULTS
- El Kanemi 1-1 Ikorodu City
- Niger Tornados 1-1 Bayelsa United
- Heartland 0-0 Kwara United
- Plateau United 1-0 Akwa United
- Rivers United 1-0 Sunshine Stars
- Shooting Stars 0-1 Remo Stars
- Bendel United 1-1 Nasarawa United
SATURDAY
- Katsina United 0-0 Abia Warriors
- Enyimba 2-1 Kano Pillars
- Lobi Stars 2-4 Enugu Rangers
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