Nigerian Football
AT LAST, NNL BOWS TO NFF OVER SUPER 8
The logjam that was in
the waiting over the commencement of next football season may have been broken
following the request from the Nigeria National League (NNL) for the
postponement of the planned Super 8 in Aba from Thursday January 3rd to Saturday
January 5th.
In a copy of the letter signed by the League Chief Operating Officer (COO), Lawrence Katken seeking for two days postponement of the disputed playoff and addressed to the Glasshouse, it stated that “Sequel to our meeting on 27th December, 2018 held in Lagos we hereby request for the shift of date for the commencement of the Super 8 from the 3rd to 5th January, 2019.
“This is to enable the concerned club’s to effect the resolution of the meeting in good time.”
The action put to rest the stalemate that most pundits had envisaged considering the fact neither of the two bodies, NNL and the Nigeria Professional League Committee (NPFL) was willing to shift its ground while the logjam persist.
The Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Shehu Dikko had during the week insisted that January 13th remained the kick off date of the 2018/19 Nigerian Professional Football League season.
In a telephone conversation last night, the media officer of NNL, Amar Ignis confirmed that a meeting between the two bodies held late last year to pave way for the truce has emanated from the initial logjam.
“Contrary to what was painted in the media, there had been meetings and in the end football was the winner and we are glad that our footballers can now go on with their loved profession instead of initial unending feud,” he said.
It could be recalled that the former Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National League (NNL), Bukola Olopade, in the heat of the crisis resigned as the CEO of the NNL citing breach of the agreement between the NFF and NNL.
He had insisted having the playoff to produce four teams that will join the professional league rank NPFL is not the solution to the current challenges facing domestic football scene.
The former Commissioner of Sports in Ogun State, opined that the League Management Company (LMC) and Nigeria Professional Football League Club Owners should accept the initial proposal that promotes all the teams to join the 20 existing clubs in the top division to safe the impending logjam.
Olopade who noted that NPFL management has breached an article in LMC statute by agreeing to prosecute the 2018/19 NPFL season with 24 teams whereas it was clearly stated in the LMC statute that only 20 clubs should participate in the NPFL league.
“The organisers, NPFL must also relegate four teams if they are to accommodate four NPFL in the 2018/19,” he argued.
He said further that “NNL equally has the right to reject demotion of eight teams at the end of the season if four NNL teams were promoted to the elite league from the beginning of the season,” he pointed out.
He insisted that if the Super 8 is played, they management of the leagues are merely postponing the doomsday in Nigeria football because the problem is not over yet.
“NPFL must also relegate four teams because at the end of the season eight clubs will be relegated to the NNL and at that time, NNL also has the right to reject and say they cannot accommodate eight clubs when they promoted four clubs,” he pointed out.
The new date proposed by NNL was to allowed all the team’s most especially the clubs that stayed away from the initial playoff a ample time to put their players together for the mini event.
The stayed away clubs namely Shooting Stars of Ibadan, Bendel Insurance of Benin, Kada FC, Remo Stars and Kogi United had given excuse for staying away on the ground that all their players have travelled for the Christmas holiday.
Meanwhile, NFF is het to redeem the N2million that was promised to the three clubs that honored the earlier date for the playoff. The clubs are Delta Force, Real Stars and Gombe United and the sum was to cover their travel cost to the venue of the mini tournament.
Nigerian champions, Enugu Rangers have been beaten 4-3 by visiting Kano Pillars in the Match Day 7 of the Nigeria Premier Football League.
The visitors went into the lead in 15th minute when Rabiu Ali converted a penalty kick. They doubled the lead in the 28th minute through Zulkifilu Rabiu before Rabiu Ali extended the lead to 3-0 in the 37th minute after converting another penalty kick.
The game turned into a nightmare for Rangers as Ahmed Musa made it 4-0 in the first minute of the added time.
Rangers began a fight back in the opening minutes of the second half as Isaac Saviour pulled a goal back in the 47th minute. Twelve minute later he scored a second goal to reduce the tally to 4-2. Emmanuel Silas Nenrot made the score line a more respectable for Rangers when he scored a third goal in the added time.
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.
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