Sun Sets For Ifeanyi Ubah FC After Six-Year NPFL Campaign

FC Ifeanyi Ubah (FCIU) ended their six-year uninterrupted campaign in elite division with a 1-0 win against Warri Wolves on August 5, in the 2020/2021 Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) but fell short of overcoming relegation.
The victory was not enough for FCIU, popularly known as ‘Anambra Warriors’, to scale relegation as they finished 19th on the final league table.
Tidesports source reports that in the meantime, sports administrators and enthusiasts have been expressing divergent views on the implications of the Anambra Warriors exit from the NPFL to the State, as well as the issue of private club ownership and management.
While Anambra parades a galaxy of football stars, it now joins the league of those without ambassadors in the NPFL, while the FCIU had chalked up the longest record of a privately-owned club that survived in the NPFL.
Other relegated clubs, over the years, included the likes of Giwa FC of Jos, Ikorodu United of Lagos, Remo Star of Abeokuta, ABS FC of Ilorin, Go Round FC and Nembe FC, all of which had suffered relegation from the top league in the last seven years.
A Green Eagles veteran, Arthur Ebunam, blamed FCIU’s ouster on low player morale and survival challenges in the league.
Ebunam, who played in many Nigerian clubs, stated that football management needed so much attention and that Nigeria’s league was not designed to encourage private investors.
“Private club owners don’t have what it takes to run clubs in Nigeria, football is not run like a regular business; professionalism and players’ welfare are germane.
“I have  been in the forefront of fighting the government to own a club; Anambra State is not the poorest, the state is overdue to own one,” he said.
Afootball coach, Chris Abakare, said the relegation of FCIU was a bitter lesson that will  linger for a long time as their presence in the NPFL served as motivation for many clubs and players.
Abakare  said a lesson from the development was that individuals, who owned clubs should, as much as they could, ensure that the management structure was separated from their person.