Nigerian Football
Just how good is the 35-year-old Nigerian professional league?
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
The rating of the Nigerian League with the rest of the world, especially on the African continent, will always be a contentious issue.
It is an argument that can never be effectively settled. But one fact is certain: a league’s product defines its quality.
In that wise, the Nigerian league can be evaluated by the results obtained by the league’s champions in Africa’s inter-club competitions as well as the quota it contributes to the national team and continental competitions.
Also, the grip it has on the populace is another factor to evaluate the efficacy of the league in Nigeria.
In terms of popularity, the league, undoubtedly, has waned in importance.
Paradoxically, before the advent of professional football in 1990, the stadiums were often overfilled, especially in crackers involving clubs like the IICC Shooting Stars, Enugu Rangers, Super Stores, Bendel Insurance, among others.
Now, the league venues are becoming emptier with every passing season, while the English Premiership and other leagues of Europe continue their stranglehold on the Nigerian populace.
That way, the English Premiership, for instance, continues to wax stronger with ever-increasing television viewing figures around the globe and also massive foreign investors are falling over themselves to get a piece of the action.
In Europe, the leagues, clubs and players can be choosy in sponsorship and endorsements. Not so with the Nigerian league and the clubs, as well as the players whose lifelines depend almost solely on government subsidies.
For the three decades of the introduction of the professional league to Nigeria, the bulk of national team players were drawn from leagues in Europe.
The trend appears will persist for years to come. Even when an African nations’ football championship was introduced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), for players domiciled in the respective African countries, Nigeria’s home-based players could not qualify for the first two editions held in Côte d’Ivoire in 2009 and Sudan in 2011.
The Nigerian side was knocked out in 2009 by Ghana and for the 2011 edition by even a lesser football power, Niger Republic, in the first round of the qualifying series.
This year marks 23 years since a Nigerian club first won the CAF Champions League when Enyimba triumphed in 2003 and again in the following year.
Ever since, Nigerian clubs have tumbled. Even the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup has been elusive to Nigerian clubs since the competition began in 2004.
In the first 20 years of a professional league in Nigeria, the country’s clubs only won the continent’s premier inter-club competition, the CAF Champions League, twice.
In comparison, within the same period, Egyptian clubs won the Champions League nine times.
Overall, in 59 editions of the African premier club’s competition from 1965 to 2024, Egyptian clubs won 18 times, followed by clubs from Morocco and Congo DR with six victories each. The Nigerian league produced African champions only twice in 59 years.
In the next level of African clubs’ competition, the African Winners Cup, which ran from 1975 to 2003, Nigeria won three times in 29 editions of the competition.
Products of the Egyptian league, on the other hand, won eight times. Tunisian clubs had four victories.
In 12 editions of the 12 CAF Cup competition, Tunisian clubs led the pack, winning four times and followed by Algeria with three victories. Nigerian clubs won twice.
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation recognised by FIFA.
It chronicles the history and records of football. Over the years, its ranking of African leagues has persistently put the Egyptian league top in Africa.
The Tunisian league often followed, while Nigeria ranked third. The statistics also reflected the results obtained in the CAF Champions League, which the North Africans dominate.
In terms of contribution to the national team, the Egyptian league again soars above that of Nigeria. For instance, while Egypt’s 23-man squad to the 2010 African Nations Cup had 19 home boys, Nigeria’s entire squad was drawn from abroad.
There were six other players from the Egyptian league in other squads, making a total of 25 players from that league.
In contrast, Nigeria’s league only contributed two out of the 368 players of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
They were Chitou Rachad, a goalkeeper of Wikki Tourists and Akinsola Boussari of Enugu Rangers, who was to play for Togo before the country’s eventual withdrawal.
The leagues of other African countries also contributed significantly to the Africa Cup of Nations.
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Nigerian Football
Remo Stars’ lifting of the NPFL trophy marks the 35th anniversary of professional football in Nigeria
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Remo Stars’ coronation as Nigeria’s new football kings perhaps marks the 35th anniversary of the introduction of professional football in Nigeria.
It was on this day, 12 May 1990, at the now Mobolaji Johnson Arena Stadium that the professional league symbolically kicked off and former Super Eagles’ rear guard, Ben Iroha, entered the record books as the first scorer when the then Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland) beat Stationery Stores 2-1.
Without much fanfare, such that heralded the first North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1969 and the J-League of Japan in 1993, a professional league kicked off in Nigeria.
The pioneers were the now-defunct Lagos ACB, BCC Lions, Bendel Insurance, Bendel United (now defunct) and Enyimba.
Others were Highlanders of Jos, Iwuanyanwu Nationale, JIB, Kano Pillars, Obanta United (later VIP), Ranchers, Enugu Rangers and Stationery Stores.
An attempt to have one of the pioneer clubs pitch against the Crystal Palace of England, as a symbolic kick-off of the professional league, failed.
After years of prolonged debates, the professional league finally kicked off with a Super Stores versus Iwuanyanwu Nationale opener at the Onikan Stadium, Lagos.
The Owerri-based Iwuanyanwu, now renamed Heartland, dictated the pace of the away tie, winning 2-1. They kept their form and the pace until the season ended, winning the inaugural championship.
Remo Stars on Sunday became the 19th club to win the laurel. But the most successful club in the 35-year history of professional football in Nigeria is Enyimba, record nine-time winners.
Across ages, Enyimba have been the most successful, winning the professional league nine times. They are followed by the crowd-pulling Kano Pillars, who won four times.
Shooting Stars, Heartland and Lobi Stars have each won twice. In 2012, the Nigeria Professional League had its best ranking as the topmost in Africa and the 24th in the world.
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Enyimba FC are undoubtedly the most successful football club in Nigeria. Their accomplishment both locally and on the continental scene easily earned the Aba side the accolades.
Not only is the team the only Nigerian club to win the continental premier competition, but they also won the domestic league nine times in 35 years of professional football.
Yet the club stumbled at the beginning of the professional league. In the opening season, Enyimba placed 13th in the 16-team log. But there was no relegation in the first season.
But in the second season, the professional league offered stiffer competition than that of the previous season. Until the last games, it was uncertain which of the two bitter rivals of the season – Julius Berger and Shooting Stars – would win the trophy donated by sports philanthropist extraordinaire, Moshood Abiola.
What gave Julius Berger an edge was a controversial Week 27 match that Iwuanyanwu Nationale failed to honour. The season’s hot contenders had engaged themselves in bitter rivalries that saw their clash in Ibadan ending 1-1 and a teargas-soaked 0-0 draw in Lagos.
Julius Berger eventually won the league, scoring 58 points, one over those of Shooting Stars.
Enyimba of Aba and Plateau Highlanders of Jos. The two teams that brought the rear of the league ladder were relegated, becoming the first clubs to suffer that fate in the professional league.
El-Kanemi Warriors and Udoji United from the newly established Division Two of the professional league were promoted to compete in the 1992 edition of the elite division of the league.
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It was a momentous occasion for Remo Stars as they earned their first-ever national title on Sunday. It was the first time the club had won a national trophy. It was also the first time the Nigerian title was presented in a little town.
It is historical for Ikenne, which is fast becoming the epicentre of football activities in Nigeria.
Some of the national teams have found a haven in the town, and even the Super 6 league of the women’s league is currently being held in the little town.
The town hosted its first NPFL match on 26 December 2021 when Remo Stars beat Heartland 3-0. It followed up hosting a continental for the first time on 18 September 2022.
On July 17, 2022, Remo Stars earned their very first continental ticket when they beat Niger Tornadoes 3-0 in Ikenne.
Coincidentally, it was also a defeat of Niger Tornadoes this year that has earned the club its first league title and another shot at continental appearance.
The town played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s U17 ladies team picking a ticket for another World Cup appearance. The team’s home matches were played in Ikenne just at the town also hosted the CHAN Eagles training session ahead of eventual qualification for the continental appearance.
In receiving the NPFL trophy on Sunday, it was in the form of an exchange of baton. Abubakar Lawal, the Managing Director of GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited, which fuelled the league, picked the trophy from the podium where it had been placed by former international, Samson Ozogula.
He passed it to the chairman of the NPFL, Gbenga Elegbeleye, who, in turn, handed it over to the President of the NFF, Ibrahim Gusau.
With trophy going in ascending order, it was passed on to the Chairman of the National Sports Commission who handed it over to the Governor of Ogun State, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
The trophy was later presented by the governor to Nduka Junior, the captain of Remo Stars. Expectedly, the atmosphere became electrified with confetti flying over the podium and followed by fireworks, which lit the skies.
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Remo Stars’ lifting of the NPFL trophy marks the 35th anniversary of professional football in Nigeria
Just how good is the 35-year-old Nigerian professional league?
Nigerian League at 35: Record holders, Enyimba, also tasted relegation
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