TELL IT

President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari has told players of the Super Eagles Team B to fear no foe and believe in themselves as they confront their Ivorian counterparts in Abidjan on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles landed in Abidjan on Thursday morning, with a handy 4-1 lead from the first leg, and Maigari immediately charged the boys to go and conquer, and forget whatever antics the Ivorians have up their sleeves. [caption id="attachment_377957" align="alignnone" width="412"] Maigari and Keshi[/caption] “You should be pre-occupied with your own strategies and tactics to conquer, and not bother your heads about what pranks the opponents would play. “It is also important to approach the match as if you have no advantage from the first leg here in Nigeria. If you start thinking that you have a handsome credit, that would be a poor approach and the Ivorians will gain strength from that. “The NFF believes in you and this is why we ha...

A new chapter is crafted in Nigeria football history as President Goodluck Jonathan (GCFR) will on Thursday inaugurate the brand-new Football House, headquarters of the Nigeria Football Federation. The ceremony at the gorgeous facility inside the Package B of the National Stadium, Abuja will mark the first time that the Nigeria Football Federation, founded in 1945 as Nigeria Football Association, will be having a permanent home. [caption id="attachment_338267" align="alignleft" width="175"] President Goodluck Jonathan[/caption] The football-governing body had operated from various structures both in Lagos and Abuja over the decades, but never before now a permanent home of its own. Football-loving President Jonathan will be joined at the epoch occasion by Honourable Minister of Sports and Chairman, National Sports Commission, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and a number of other cabinet ministers, with NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari and some of his Executive...

By Tony Ubani It’s not every day that two football matches produce a cricket-like score of 146 goals. As Nigeria Football Federation continues its investigation to unravel the culprits behind the 79 – 0 and 76 – 0 scorelines respectively recorded by  Plateau United Feeders and Police Machine FC, former Green Eagles Captain and later coach of the Super Eagles, Chairman Christian Chukwu has asked the soccer-ruling body to prosecute the offenders before they spill into the Nigerian Premier League. [caption id="attachment_154233" align="alignright" width="300"] League action[/caption] “I”ve never seen or heard of such outrageous scorelines in my life. It is unheard of and unimaginable that such things we hear or see on foreign news is happening before us. The NFF should act fast to prosecute the offenders and send out warning signals to their likes. If not, negative things  that will bring our football to disrepute will spread like cancer”, Chukwu who captain...

BY JACOB AJOM Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State has again come to the rescue of cash-strapped Nigeria Football Federation as his government has agreed to foot the bills for the camping of the national U-17 football team, the Golden Eaglets ahead of the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup. As a result the Eaglets are expected to resume camping in Calabar immediately. [caption id="attachment_78455" align="alignright" width="288"] Gov Imoke of Cross River[/caption] An NFF delegation led by the first Vice President, Chief Mike Umeh met with Governor Imoke and the state Commissioner of Sports, Patrick Ugbe in Calabar on Thursday. At the meeting the governor consented to the idea of having the Eaglets camp in Calabar at the state government’s expense. Confirming the development, Chief Umeh said, “I led a delegation to Calabar to congratulate the Governor on his birthday and to also decorate him with his silver medal which the Eaglets won in Morocco. “We also aske...

By Tony Ubani The Nigeria Football Federation was left red-eyed and livid with rage after two matches in amateur league games produced what ordinarily should have shattered the Guinness Book of World Records with 146 goals. Plateau United Feeders produced a  mind-boggling  79-0 victory over Akurba FC while Police Machine FC demolished Babayaro FC 67-0. All teams were involved in promotion play-offs in which the winners would qualify to play in Nigeria Nationwide League Division 3. The matches were going on simultaneously and Plateau and Police Machine were in contention for promotion. The two winners were apparently monitoring their scores and kept recording the goals to outdo each other. The Nigeria Football Federation, alarmed by the scandal,  reacted swiftly by placing the four teams on indefinte suspension and dismissed the results as laughable. [caption id="attachment_403029" align="alignnone" width="412"] DO OR DIE AFFAIR: A typical scene from the ...