As football leagues across the globe resumed fully last month, the Nigeria Football Federation has announced the launch of NFF Monthly Awards, a celebration of the outstanding performances of Nigerian football players across various Football Leagues including Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL.

With the football calendar in full swing, the NFF Monthly Awards aim to honour the brilliance, dedication and passion that Nigerian football players bring to the game, recognizing the top players who have left their mark on the pitch.

Award Categories:

• Player of the Month (Male & Female)
•  Goal of the Month
• Discovery of the Month

Nomination Process

According to the NFF, the nomination process for the awards is scientific, ensuring a fair and accurate selection of nominees. An independent organization will collect and analyse players’ statistics throughout the month, ensuring that the best performances are highlighted.

“This unbiased, data-driven approach guarantees that the nominations reflect the top-performing players based on their contribution to their teams”, an NFF statement signed by its director of communication, Dr Ademola Olajire disclosed.

Nominations for the first round of awards will be announced on Thursday. From there, voting will be opened to fans and journalists alike, making this a truly inclusive and engaging event for the Nigerian football community.

Voting Process

Fans and journalists will have the chance to vote for their favourite players via the official NFF voting portal on the website www.thenff.com.

The voting period will run for one week following the announcement of the nominations.

Fan Votes will account for 40% of the final decision, enabling supporters to have their voices heard and directly influence the outcome of these prestigious awards.

The remaining 60% will be determined by journalists and industry professionals, ensuring a balanced and well-rounded selection process.

Speaking on the launch of the awards, NFF General Secretary, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, said:
“The NFF Monthly Awards are a key part of our efforts to further elevate Nigeria football, not only by recognizing outstanding talent but by engaging with fans and the media in a way that brings the football community closer together. We believe that this initiative will encourage excellence on the field and foster a deeper connection between players and their supporters.

“The NFF Monthly Awards are a step forward in celebrating the rich and growing talent pool, and we look forward to the excitement that the awards will bring to fans, players and the media.”

Key Dates: Nominations Announcement: 3^rd October, 2024; Voting: 3^rd October – Midnight of 7^th October 2024.

Former Super Eagles and English Premier League football star Sam Sodje over the weekend condemned the prevalence of paedophiles among youth coaches in Delta State and other parts of Nigeria.

The retired footballer who now shuttles between London and Delta State where he contributes to youth engagement and empowerment through sports is sad that coaches who are entrusted with young children are abusing them sexually and destroying their tomorrow and the society is not doing enough to arrest the criminal practices.

Said Sodje,“Sports is a powerful tool that takes millions out of poverty in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world, the present economic difficulties in Nigeria have led many parents to encourage their children to participate as a get-out-of-poverty vehicle.

 “In their hurry to ensure their wards participate in sports, they give them out without doing due diligence or proper background checks of the so-called youth coaches.

“Majority of the so-called youth coaches are of questionable character and their motive is to sexually abuse these children, not to give them coaching tutorials.”

Sodje who has traversed every nook and cranny of Delta State and other parts of Nigeria in the course of promoting his initiative “Life After Sports” revealed that he has heard too many stories of coaches who engage in the act of sexually abusing children in the course of offering coaching services in the different sports across the country, Delta State not being an exception. 

The former football star isn’t just condemning the act; he’s also demanding urgent action. 

He’s calling for coaches involved in such immoral acts to be named, shamed, prosecuted, and punished similarly to how paedophiles are treated in Europe, America, and other regions.

Sodje also urge parents to do serious background checks about coaches they want to entrust their children with, “I am therefore using the medium to offer strong advice to parents to ensure that they carry out due- diligence from top officials of various sports associations across the country, Delta State inclusive, to ensure that children do not fall prey to the activities of these unscrupulous coaches with their high inclination for immortality and sexual abuses against under-age children. 

“As parents, we have the responsibility and the duty to protect our children from these wicked people that are living amongst us in the society.”

He also called on administrators to “I want to also seriously call on all the administrators of the various sports associations to make it a point of duty to carry out proper character venting of individual coaches that are attached to them and ensure that the bad eggs in their midst are disengaged and specifically banned from working with children to protect our innocent boys and girls for the good of the family, the sports sector and the society in general.”

Sodje said that instead of romancing the issue, we need to call a spade a spade and stop the shenanigans before it gets out of control. 

The football star who played for top and iconic English sides like Brentford, Reading, West Bromwich Albion, Sheffield Wednesday, Watford, Charlton Athletic, Notts County, Portsmouth, and Greek club Skoda Xanthi, said he is ready to lead the fight against this ugly practice in sports and the society at large so that our children that practice and excel in their God’s given talents, without their today and tomorrow being destroyed by paedophiles.

BY NOBERT OKOLIE

Reigning NPFL champions, Enugu Rangers on Sunday were again denied any point in an  NPFL Match Day 4 fixture by last season’s league runner-up, Remo Stars.

The Ikenne side ran away with a 2-1 win inside Remo Stars Stadium, Ikenne, Ogun State.

It was the same result last season, making Ikenne a bogey venue for Enugu Rangers as they are yet to get away with any points.

In Sunday’s match, Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu stuck with the majority of the starting squad that earned a win over Ikorodu City, midweek, with the trio of Okorie Chiedozie, Tekena Garando and Agu Kenechukwu taking the places of Frank Uwumiro, Anayor Ogbonna and Kazeem Ogunleye in a 4-5-1 formation that caused the host some anxious moments early in the game.

Tried as both sides did to breach each other’ backline in the first period of the highly entertaining fixture, there was no goal to show for their efforts as Lucky Abdullahi was the busier of the two shot-stoppers.

However, three goals within a space of 10 minutes in the second half, decided the encounter in favour of coach Daniel Ogunmodede’ side.

It all began as Young Oyowah stabbed home the opening goal in the 51st minute. That ignited the attacking power of Enugu Rangers as Effimi Nsi was upended inside the box after been fed by Ugwueze Chinecherem who dribbled past four opponents like a hot knife on butter. The referee wasted no time in awarding a penalty that was expertly converted by Agu Kenechukwu in the 56th minute.

Tochukwu Michael benefited from a momentary drop in concentration by the Rangers backline to blast his side’s second goal at the hour mark to send the home fans into wild celebrations.