Sports
Nigeria Premier League Yearns For Past Glory
On Sunday June 12, two of Nigeria’s biggest clubs in the last four decades, Shooting Stars a.k.a 3SC and Rangers International, contested a league game in Abeokuta.
Forty years ago, after the country’s Civil War, it would have been the match everyone talked about. The media would have been awash with the fact that the two clubs that represented different philosophies and regions in the country were about to rekindle their rivalry having won 11 championships between them.
However, during this recent face-off, the players traded tackles in front of a near empty stadium. Apart from those who watched on television because there was no competing programming from Europe on that fateful day, there was little interest. The game, like many things in local Nigerian football, has lost its sheen.
In the past decade, the Nigerian league has suffered a demise of colours. Fans have kept away from the stadiums and a coterie of them can now be found on Saturday evenings watching European league football in television viewing centres.
In Lagos, the commercial capital, over a thousand shops screen the English Premier League. A report by TELL magazine in 2008 estimated that more than 500 outlets sell jerseys of major European clubs while viewing centre entrepreneurs make at least $200,000 monthly from screening live games.
In all this, the Nigerian league has gone to sleep. Lagos has no representation in the Premier League, as it’s most supported side, – the Stationery Stores, have been battling with ownership issues for the better part of two decades. And without the impact of Lagos, the support base of the league has nosedived.
Adebayo Olowo-Ake, a Stores supporter who is leading a revival of the side, told Goal.com “SSFC supporters would charter all the buses in Lagos in those days and head for these Nigerian cities a day before the game, and residents would know that ‘The Lagos people had arrived.’ SSFC took on the might of governments, for these other clubs were government-owned, unlike Stores, that was wholly private and even better supported than them.”
In the past, all the major clubs were owned by business people and as such ran as profit-making ventures. Today, they have all been taken over by state governments and are run as political tools. This has brought about a lack of checks and balances and a lackadaisical attitude towards the sport. “They’ve taken the soul out of football and that’s why fans do not come out anymore,” Oluwashina Okeleji of BBC Sport told Goal.com.
It was a sentiment echoed by former Nigeria international Segun Odegbami in his column last week. “In Nigerian football everything is about government. Until the economic and political situation changes, proper professional football, the sort that will bring up a private organisation as defined by the FIFA statutes, cannot exist in most of Africa.” he wrote on the SuperSport website.
Also, spurious refereeing decisions that ensure home teams have the upper hand with the award of scandalous penalties are a bane of the league. A penalty is gifted to home sides in virtually one out of every two games played in the season and this makes sure that fans keep away from the stadiums. Many say there’s no joy knowing that your club will always win their home clashes, even when they play badly.
Poor pitches also reduce the beauty of the game. Many of the stadiums, except a few that were repaired during the country’s hosting of the FIFA U17 tournament two years ago, do not have playable surfaces.
Pundits have called for retiring Nigerian stars abroad to return home to play for a few years in order to ignite fans’ desire and passion for the league. The country’s highest scoring player, Rashidi Yekini, did that a few years ago when he featured for Julius Berger. The stands were packed again, even if it was short-lived. Imagine Kanu or Okocha in the jersey of Enyimba or Kano Pillars – the fans would go crazy. No other stars followed Yekini’s footsteps because pay conditions are poor. Signing-on fees are rarely delivered and local players chase after the Golden Fleece in Europe.
The Nigerian Premier League board has a great deal to do to rediscover local interest in the top flight. First, the league must be given back to private hands and clear its stables of corruption. Then try to bring Lagos back into the picture; it is, after all, where the bulk of the fans exist.
Liverpool’s season of abject misery worsened as they were beaten with embarrassing ease by a hugely impressive Nottingham Forest at Anfield.
Arne Slot’s Premier League champions were looking to bounce back from a heavy defeat at Manchester City, but instead ran into a Forest side revitalised under new manager Sean Dyche and looking back to their best.
Liverpool head coach Slot gave £125m British record signing Alexander Isak a start, but he was totally anonymous once more and only lasted 67 minutes.
Forest went ahead after 33 minutes when defender Murillo shot powerfully past fit-again Liverpool keeper Alisson to subdue an already anxious Anfield.
Igor Jesus had a second ruled out for handball, but Forest doubled their advantage 39 seconds after the break when former Liverpool defender Neco Williams set up Nicola Savona for a crisp finish in front of The Kop.
Liverpool could barely raise a response in a desperate display, Forest increasing their lead 12 minutes from time when Morgan Gibbs-White scored after Alisson saved from Omari Hutchinson.
It means Liverpool, who lie 11th before Saturday’s late fixture, have now lost six of their past seven Premier League games as Slot’s near £450m summer spending spree comes under further scrutiny.
Forest, meanwhile, are surging away from the relegation zone and are up to 16th.
Michael Olise scored twice and provided a hat-trick of assists as Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich came from two goals down to thrash Freiburg.
The visitors stunned the defending champions by taking a 2-0 lead after just 17 minutes when Yuito Suzuki scored from close range and Johan Manzambi rose highest to head home Jan-Niklas Beste’s corner.
Bayern, who had not lost in the league since March, responded superbly and had restored parity by half-time.
Teenager Lennart Karl fired into the bottom corner from Olise’s pass in the 22nd minute and set up the Frenchman for a fierce finish in first-half injury-time, although Freiburg goalkeeper Noah Atubolu should have done better.
Bayern took control in the second period as Dayot Upamecano headed home Olise’s corner to put them ahead for the first time.
England captain Harry Kane netted his 14th league goal of the campaign on the hour mark, before Olise made it three assists when he threaded a pass through for Nicolas Jackson to finish at the first time of asking in the 78th minute.
Winger Olise completed a sensational afternoon with his second of the game six minutes later, driving at the Freiburg defence and curling into the far corner.
A 10th victory in the first 11 games left Bayern eight points clear of second-placed Bayer Leverkusen, while Freiburg remain 10th in the standings.
Vincent Kompany’s side visit Arsenal in the Champions League on Wednesday with both sides having a perfect record of four wins so far in the league phase of the competition.
AS FAR Morocco Win African Women’s Champions League (8)
AS FAR held firm to beat debutants ASEC Mimosas 2-1 in the African Women’s Champions League final and become continental champions for the second time.
Hanane Ait El Haj put the Moroccan club ahead from the penalty spot in the 13th minute after Safa Banouk had been tripped by Aboa Yapo.
ASEC Mimosas rallied after the break and Ami Priscal Diallo netted a fine header from Sopie Brou’s cross to drag the Ivory Coast club level 10 minutes into the second half.
But AS FAR were handed a second spot-kick in the closing stages when Noura Diarra committed a rash challenge on Sofia Bouftini.
This time it was Zineb Redouani who stepped up to stroke home in the 85th minute and restore her side’s lead.
Asastasie Gbehi came close to forcing extra time but she poked wide of the post in stoppage time, and the centre-back was sent off after the full-time whistle for dissent.
AS FAR move level with South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns as two-time winners of the title, having first lifted the trophy in 2022.
The Rabat-based side will now take on Chinese’s Wuhan Jiangda on 14 December for a place at next year’s Fifa Women’s Champions Cup.
The winner of that match will face European champions Arsenal in the semi-finals of the inaugural competition early next year in London.
Barcelona moved to the top of La Liga on Saturday with an emphatic win over 10-man Athletic Club in their first match at the Spotify Camp Nou since May 2023.
Robert Lewandowski scored their first goal back in their iconic home, which had been closed for extensive renovations, in the fourth minute.
Ferran Torres then netted twice in the second half, each assisted by wonderful skill from Lamine Yamal, who was aged just 15 in his only previous Nou Camp appearance.
Fermin Lopez also struck in the 48th minute, while visiting midfielder Oihan Sancet was sent off for a crude challenge on Lopez just six minutes later.
Large sections of the Nou Camp remained closed for the game, which was played in front of a 45,157 crowd.
The rebuilding work, which was originally scheduled to be finished in November 2024, will eventually increase the stadium’s capacity to 105,000.
Barca moved to 31 points from 13 games and top on goal difference, but Real Madrid had the chance to replace them, if they won at Elche in their game in hand, late last night.
Poland striker Lewandowski got his side off to the perfect start when he drove his low shot in off the arm of Athletic Club goalkeeper Unai Simon for an eighth league goal of the season.
The home side extended their lead in first-half added time as Yamal’s superb pass off the outside of his foot set up Torres for a good finish.
Lopez made it 3-0 three minutes after the restart, drilling a shot past Simon from near the penalty spot.
Sancet’s tackle from behind on Lopez was initially deemed a yellow card, but upgraded to red after the referee consulted with the video assistant referee (VAR).
And just before full-time, Yamal twisted and turned before sending Torres away to claim his second goal, which was originally disallowed for offside but overturned following a VAR check.
It was a dream return to their ground, with the reigning Spanish champions having mostly played at the 55,000 capacity Olympic Stadium on the city’s Montjuic hill since renovations on the Nou Camp began in June 2023.
They were forced to play two matches at the 6,000-capacity Johan Cruyff Stadium, home to their women’s team, this season after failing to get a permit for the Nou Camp through safety reasons.
Pogba Returns To Action In Ligue 1 (6)
Paul Pogba played his first minutes of professional football in more than two years as he came off the bench during Monaco’s 4-1 defeat by Rennes at the weekend.
The 32-year-old was introduced in the 85th minute at Rennes’ Roazhon Park, though his side were already four goals and a player down, following a red card for captain Denis Zakaria.
French World Cup winner Pogba broke down in tears when he joined Ligue 1 club Monaco last summer, after his four-year doping ban was reduced to 19 months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).
Pogba’s last competitive appearance was 811 days ago, when he featured for Juventus in a Serie A match against Empoli on 3 September 2023. He left Juventus by mutual consent in November 2024.
Pogba was provisionally banned from football for four years after a positive test for dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in February 2024, following a doping test in August 2023.
Pogba maintained it was a mistake and that he was given a supplement without knowing it contained a banned substance.
The former Manchester United midfielder was permitted to return to football in March following the decision to reduce his ban.
Pogba watched from the bench as goals from Abdelhamid Ait Boudlal, Mahdi Camara, Breel Embolo and Ludovic Blas put Rennes out of sight.
Fellow substitute Mika Biereth pulled a goal back for Monaco in the 95th minute, but a second consecutive 4-1 defeat means Sebastien Pocognoli’s side drop to eighth in the table with 20 points after 13 games.
