Governing Bodies
Professional football clocks 33 years in Nigeria 
BY KUNLE SOLAJA
On this date, 12 May 1990, professional football kicked off in Nigeria after years of agitations. It kicked off with Stores’ home match with the then Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland of Owerri). Ben Iroha, a left rear guard of the Super Eagles playing for the Owerri side entered the record books as the first scorer in the Nigerian professional league when he scored the first goal in a 2-1 away win at the now Mobolaji Johnson Arena.
Sports Village Square recalls that in the opening season, 16 club sides were paired in the first professional league fixtures in the country.
Professional football had kicked off in Nigeria 102 years after England pioneered the venture worldwide.
By 1989, the year preceding Nigeria’s adoption of professional football, the venture had virtually swept across the globe. What could not be imagined some years back were unfolding.
No fewer than six Eastern bloc countries of former Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, East Germany and the defunct Soviet Union had surprisingly dropped amateurism.
Even the Olympic Movement was not left out as amateurism was fading out rapidly. Professionalism has now become the bedrock of the movement, which only a decade earlier could not boast of having more than $100,000 to run its affairs.
By early 1990s, the International Olympic Committee measured its reserves in million dollars, thanks to the influx of sponsors. Juan Antonio Samaranch had transformed it into a big commercial enterprise.
In response to posers on the increasing professionalism of sports in the Olympic movement, Samaranch remarked that it underscored the importance of the games.
In Nigeria, the early agitation for professional football was perhaps in the 1950s. Initially, the argument was on the pros and cons.
But stronger voices seemed against it. Derby Allen, who later became the NFA chairman, for instance argued that the football industry would take more than it offered. The scale of organisation and capital investment for professional football to thrive were lacking.
Derby Allen in the Sunday Times of 20 September 1953, offered such argument against professional football. He doubted the ability of clubsides to obtain suitable ground sufficiently large enough and equipped to accommodate thousands of spectators.
In the Lagos area, the only ground of note was the King George V Stadium (now Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan), which could hold a tightly packed 12,000 people.
The value of terracing and facilities was estimated at £20,000. The paucity of facilities was also the strong point of argument against professional football, even up to the 1980s.
Allen argued further that managing the professional players, grounds men, manager, treasurer, trainers and other staff would be too much for the prospective clubs to bear.
A typical wage bill of each club was £6,209 per month. With other expenses like rent of ground and other operational costs, each club was computed to likely spend £16,000 annually and make about £8,000, leaving annual loss of the same amount. Such clubs would be too few and far apart.
Most antagonists up till 1980s subscribed to the arguments. Clubs were expected to seek other means of generating funds like the Egyptian teams, which were run as semi-professional outfits.
The Al-Ahly of Cairo printed out 120,000 copies of its magazine weekly to supplement earnings from gate takings. Besides, each of the 15,000 associate members at the time, yearly paid one thousand Egyptian pounds.
Protagonists held that professionalism was the answer to the apparent dwindling standard of the game. Coach Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina told the Sunday Times of 2 September 1969, that Nigeria could not make a World Cup standard without adopting professional football.
He was to be proved right as Nigeria’s debut in the World Cup was immediately after the commencement of the professional league.
Ameachina recalled then that only one non-professional football country, Sweden, in 1958 ever played the World Cup final.
Jasper Philips, treasurer of LAFA for many years, maintained in 1963 that Nigeria should go professional.
His lofty idea was that 3,000 sports-minded Nigerians should contribute £10 each to raise a £30,000 Trust Fund to begin the venture.
Louis Edet, the NFA chairman, loved the idea, but doubted the implementation, as professionalism would rob Nigeria the opportunities to feature in some international competitions.
“There is currently no professional football in Africa, and barring African Cups, a team of professionals in Nigeria can’t take part in Olympics, West African Gold Cup and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Cup played by Nigeria and Ghana”, argued Edet.
He stated further that such debarment also applied to friendly matches. “It will therefore require more than £30,000 trust fund to maintain a professional team which can’t play many matches and bring money from the gates to reinforce the trust fund”, Edet concluded.
The argument sounded plausible, especially recalling past experience.
Governing Bodies
Zimbabwe sports minister among candidates for International Olympic Committee presidency
A total of seven candidates are running for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee with the winner replacing outgoing president Thomas Bach at elections in March 2025 in ancient Olympia, Greece.
Kirsty Coventry:
Age: 41
Country: Zimbabwe
Entry into the IOC: 2013
An Olympic swimming champion and Zimbabwe’s most successful Olympian, Coventry is Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister. She is the only woman among the candidates and the only one from Africa.
Prince Feisal Al Hussein:
Age: 60
Country: Jordan
Entry into the IOC: 2010
Prince Feisal heads the Jordan Olympic Committee and has been an IOC executive board member since 2019. An Executive Board member of the Olympic Council of Asia, Prince Feisal has also held several posts at the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
Sebastian Coe:
Age: 67
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2020
An Olympic track and field champion and head of World Athletics, Coe also led the organisation for the 2012 London Olympics. A former Conservative Member of Parliament, Coe is also involved in sports consultancy and is a former head of the British Olympic Association.
Johan Eliasch:
Age: 62
Country: Britain
Entry into the IOC: 2024
The wealthy Swedish-born entrepreneur with a variety of business interests has headed the international skiing federation since 2021. He only joined the IOC in July at its session in the Paris Olympics.
David Lappartient:
Age: 51
Country: France
Entry into the IOC: 2022
A rising figure in world sports administration. He heads the international cycling body, UCI, and is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Juan Antonio Samaranch:
Age: 64
Country: Spain
Entry into the IOC: 2001
The son of the late former IOC president, Samaranch has considerable IOC experience and influence in his six years as vice president and 23 as a member. He headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
Morinari Watanabe:
Age: 65
Country: Japan
Entry into the IOC: 2018
Watanabe has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since. He is the first Japanese candidate to run for the IOC presidency.
Governing Bodies
World Athletics boss, Coe and multi-millionaire Eliasch among seven candidates for IOC presidency
World athletics chief Sebastian Coe, multi-millionaire and Olympic newcomer Johan Eliasch and Zimbabwe’s Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry are among seven candidates for next year’s International Olympic Committee presidency election, the IOC said on Monday.
IOC Vice President Juan Antonio Samaranch, son of the late former IOC president, international cycling chief David Lappartient, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan and international gymnastics federation head Morinari Watanabe are also in the running to succeed current president Thomas Bach.
The 70-year-old German is stepping down next year after 12 years at the helm. The election will be held at the IOC session in ancient Olympia, Greece in March 2025.
The candidates will all present their programmes, behind closed doors, to the full IOC membership in January 2025.
The IOC, with 111 members currently, is in charge of the Olympic Games and the multi-billion dollar industry linked to the world’s biggest multi-sports event.
Bach’s departure comes with the organisation in a financially robust position, having secured $7.3 billion for the years 2025-28 and $6.2 billion already in deals for 2029-2032.
The president is elected to an eight-year first term with the possibility of a second term of four years, if re-elected.
Coe, 67, only joined the IOC in 2020 after a rocky relationship between World Athletics and the IOC over Coe’s ban of Russian track and field athletes almost a decade ago following the country’s doping scandal.
A former Olympic champion with a wealth of experience in the sports world, Coe was previously head of the London 2012 Games and the British Olympic Association. He is also a former Conservative Member of Parliament.
Coventry, 41, is the only woman running for president and the former Olympic swimming champion, who is Zimbabwe’s most decorated Olympian, could become not only the first female president but also the first from Africa.
MALE PRESIDENTS
All IOC presidents have been men, with eight of the nine from Europe and one from the United States.
The 62-year-old Eliasch, head of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS), only joined the IOC in July, with the Swedish-born British businessman’s candidacy a surprise for some.
Prince Feisal, 60, is a member of the IOC executive board, having joined the organisation in 2010, while Spaniard Samaranch, with considerable IOC experience in his six years as vice president, headed the coordination commission for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.
“The IOC and Olympic movement have made enormous strides over the past decade under the leadership of Mr Bach,” said Samaranch in a statement.
“The IOC now needs a new leader with deep experience of the Olympic movement who can help steer it through this period of upheaval.”
UCI chief Lappartient has been a rapidly rising figure within the sports world after joining the IOC in 2022.
The Frenchman also is in charge of esports within the IOC, having helped seal a 12-year deal with Saudi Arabia earlier this year for the Olympic esports Games.
Japan’s Watanabe, 65, has headed the gymnastics federation (FIG) since 2016, having been re-elected twice since, and is his country’s first ever candidate for the IOC presidency.
Under current rules members have to step down when they reach 70, the IOC’s age limit, unless they are given a four-year extension.
-Reuters
There is currently insinuations that proposed certain elements may have smuggled modifications to amend the Statutes of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) when the body holds its General Assembly next month in Kinshasa, Congo next month.
The confederation will be having its 46th General Assembly on 10th October. It is at such gatherings that amendments are made to existing rules.
According to an article authored by Mansour Loum, the editor of Sports News Africa, some national football federations have denied being party to proposed amendments which were linked to them.
One of such is coming from the Equatorial Guinea Football Federation which has denied signing proposals being circulated relating to amendments to CAF Statutes.
It is claimed that a circular dated 8 September has been sent to CAF member associations. Signed by CAF General Secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, it is titled: “Proposals for amendments to the CAF statutes and regulations for the application of the statutes, as well as the rules of procedure of the CAF General Assembly, presented by the national associations.”
Seven member associations were quoted as sponsoring the amendments. They are: Botswana, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Niger.
But Equatorial Guinea has denied being party to the proposed amendment which seek to remove age barrier for candidates seeking to be CAF Presidents and also removing zonal considerations in election into FIFA Council.
The current Statute stipulates that a presidential candidate must not be older than 70 as at the date of election.
Most of the national federation members are already approaching that age. In the estimation of the author of the article, Mansour Loum, the current CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, is 62 years old. With the age limit, he could, for example, only run for two more terms.
Continuing, Loum wrote that regarding the elections to the FIFA Council, each zone has a representative on the FIFA Council and candidates for these positions can only be elected by the presidents of the member associations of their group zone.
Thus, the presidents of French-speaking federations can only vote for a French-speaking representative, the English-speakers for the English-speaking group, and so on.
The distribution of seats on the FIFA Council is currently as follows:
Francophone Group – Two members
Anglophone Group – Two members
Arabophone/Lusophone/Hispanophone Group – Two members
One female member elected from among the female candidates, regardless of language groups
The modification of the grouping by zonal unions would mean that all presidents could vote for candidates outside their group, or that the candidates would also no longer be limited to a group.
Several candidates from the same group could be elected to the FIFA Council, while at the same time some groups could no longer be represented.
Equatorial Guinea disputes any request for modification. The football federation president, Venancio Tomas Ndong Micha has reportedly denied being party to the proposed amendments.
“I am writing to you to present the disagreement of the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation with part of the content of the document sent to the CAF Executive Council on September 8, 2024 signed by you (…)
“In this document, there are amendments presented by the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation (…) By this letter, we confirm that the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has not submitted any amendments to the CAF administration for the 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly to be held on Thursday, October 10, 2024 in Kinshasa,” he denounces.
Enough to cast doubt on this document sent by the CAF secretary general and the objective targeted. Contacted, a federation president, whose body is not mentioned in the letter, is surprised by these two requests for amendments and wonders about their intentions.
The press release from the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has sown doubt and now he is questioning the originality of the attachments included in this document which is likely to be talked about between now and the CAF General Assembly.
– Mansour Loum
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