Sports
Ex-Footballers’ Plot Against NFF Gets Boost
Ex-Nigeria internationals and Players’ Union which has been clamouring for change in the administration of football in the country appears close to realising its goal as the signs of victory look evident, even before the elective congress of the Nigeria Football Federation billed for September, 2022.
It is aware that to attain the desired change in the administration of football in the country, the constitution of the board of the Nigeria Football Federation has to change.
To change the way the board is at present constituted, former players and other stakeholders went to court to halt the elective congress of the NFF, insisting that the NFF statute must be amended to allow for more and equitable representation of all stakeholders.
They eventually secured an interlocutory injunction from a High Court in Bayelsa State which stopped any further step towards holding the congress until the case before it was decided.
The move by the concerned stakeholders which resulted in a court injunction was almost turning into an irony as it provided an alibi for the NFF board. “They(board members) wanted to hide under the injunction, delay the congress and ultimately delay the election which is expected to usher in a new board,” a source revealed, adding that the board members held a zoom meeting and perfected their plan to stay put till February 2023.
“They wanted to go to Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup and the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast in January next year. That is why they were indifferent to the court injunction that stopped the congress.”
Even more uncomfortable for the board was what one observer termed as “the insurgency” within the NFF structure which saw 28 state FA Chairmen, traditionally deemed to be lackeys to the board, revolt by passing a vote of no confidence in the NFF leadership.
“That was an additional headache to the NFF,” our source said under anonymity. More astonishing was the fact that the state FA chairmen signed the resolution by appending not only their signatures but had their passport pictures affixed to their names and signatures. This jolted the NFF leadership but they kept their plans under wraps as they had their plan to stay longer than their tenure.
The dissident FA Chairmen were having a field day as they insisted that a change was inevitable for Nigerian football to move forward.
Reading the mood of the NFF board members, the players’ association applied a master stroke when it petitioned the presidency, intimating the President of the discrete disposition of the NFF towards the September election.
Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development reacted to the petition with a directive to the NFF to ensure that they don’t flout their own statutes and advised that the September election is held as scheduled.
“Their plan to hang on was bursted by President Buhari’s directive that they hold elections,” our source said, adding that “the court order under which they were hiding under will be vacated soon. I wonder where they will run to now.”
Apart from ensuring that the election is held, the President also directed that the NFF Statutes must be amended to accommodate other real football stakeholders who was either under represented or were not represented at all on the board.
We gathered that with President Buhari’s directive, the NFF has now been thrown off balance while the stakeholders will now have a say in football matters and be part of what happens next.
“For instance, they have reached an agreement that certain conditions must be respected before the elective congress. In legal terms it is called consent judgment,” our source said, even as he would not reveal the conditions although we gathered that it is about constitution of the board.
Given the new twist in the election saga, a member of the ex-footballers union, Harrison Jallah has confirmed that the process to vacate the court injunction was underway.
He said, “We are working on getting that order suspended or discontinued with completely, pending when the congress is held and the amendments we asked for are done. When we achieve that, then we can proceed to the elections. That is the position for now.”
Jallah continued, “There is a compromise now that we go and get the case out of the court which we are preparing to do now. We are looking at the whole of next week and I believe by the end of next week we will be through with that procedure.”
He further informed us what their petition to the presidency contained. “We informed that under the present statutes every member has equal status in the assembly but a particular member twerked the statute to suit his interest. For instance, there are 44 members in the congress and when you have 37 FA Chairmen, in every election they will have a majority. As I speak to you, they are 11 on the board out of 15 members. The other 4 are taken by the clubs that represent the leagues.”
Government’s subtle moves, we gathered were deliberate in order not to be seen as interfering in the internal affairs of the football governing. This, Jallah concurred. “All the government has done is simply telling football stakeholders, ‘no, we don’t want this under representation in the assembly to continue and the football family to go and resolve your differences. But in all you do, the September date for the election remains sacrosanct.”
Bayern Munich failed to win for a second consecutive Bundesliga game as they were held to a draw at Union Berlin.
After toiling for 75 minutes, Bayern appeared to have found the win to move them 11 points clear at the top through Leroy Sane.
But Benedict Hollerbach equalised eight minutes later to earn a point for Union and move them further clear of the relegation zone.
At the top of the German league, it means Bayer Leverkusen can close the gap with Bayern to six points if the reigning champions beat Stuttgart on Sunday evening.
Bayern took the lead when Michael Olise picked the lock with a clever pass in behind to Josip Stanisic.
Stanisic cut it back towards the penalty spot where Sane nipped in to finish.
After being shocked on their 125th anniversary by Bochum last weekend, Bayern appeared to have recovered as they knocked Leverkusen out of the Champions League in midweek.
But Vincent Kompany’s side suffered a setback as 21-year-old keeper Jonas Urbig – playing in just his third league game – spilled a cross, allowing Hollerbach to volley home.
The point moves Union seven points clear of the Bundesliga relegation play-off spot.
Meanwhile,RB Leipzig moved up to fifth place in the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Champions League quarter finalists Borussia Dortmund, who struck the woodwork three times in a pulsating second half.
Leipzig looked to be coasting after dominating the first 50 minutes and going ahead through goals by Xavi Simons and Lois Openda.
But Dortmund responded strongly, with Maximilian Beier hitting the bar and the post within five minutes of Leipzig’s second goal.
Karim Adeyemi’s shot was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulasci, while Pascal Gross and Nico Schlotterbeck also missed chances to get Dortmund back into the game.
Openda had already hit the bar from close range when Leipzig took the lead, Simons latching on to a rebound from Dortmund keeper Gregor Kobel with a first-time shot from near the penalty spot.
Leipzig struck the woodwork again before half-time when Ridle Baku hit Dortmund’s bar from the edge of the penalty area, and they looked to taking total control when Openda volleyed in from a corner two minutes into the second half.
Dortmund, who qualified for the last eight of the Champions League with a 3-2 aggregate win over Lille, were stung into action but after spurning multiple chances they remain in 11th place in the Bundesliga.
Leipzig are one spot short of Eintracht Frankfurt, who played Bochum late yesterday, on goal difference.
Napoli missed the chance to go top of Serie as Antonio Conte’s side were held to a goalless draw by struggling Venezia.
The 2023 champions had 15 shots on goal but were frustrated by an excellent performance from home goalkeeper Ionut Radu, whose seven saves earned his second-bottom side a valuable point.
Venezia also had a chance to steal a winner late in added time, but were unable to cap off a sweeping counter-attack with a goal.
Napoli have drawn five of their last seven league games, but Conte said: “I am satisfied with the performance, then we wanted to win it. The positive aspect is that we created a lot, the negative is that we didn’t convert them.
“We had to be more incisive, the one who scores goals wins. There are nine games to go, we’ll try to be a nuisance until the end, fighting tooth and nail.”
Napoli host AC Milan after the international break which Conte said would afford his exhausted squad a break.
“We only have half a team left,” he added.
Former Chelsea and Tottenham boss Conte has won Serie A as a manager with Inter and Juventus.
Elsewhere, Bologna thrashed Lazio 5-0 to climb above the Rome side and move into the top four.
Two goals in 94 seconds just after the break were decisive as Riccardo Orsolini and Dan Ndoye put the game beyond Lazio.
Claudio Ranieri’s Roma remain in the hunt for a European place as they beat Cagliari 1-0 with Ukraine forward Artem Dovbyk scoring the only goal.
Leaders Inter face third-placed Atalanta later yesterday night.
Kylian Mbappe fired Real Madrid back to the top of La Liga as he scored twice in a comeback victory at Villarreal.
Juan Foyth opened the scoring for the hosts but two Mbappe strikes in six first-half minutes earned the points for Madrid.
It puts Los Blancos three points clear of previous leaders Barcelona, who visit third-placed Atletico Madrid on Sunday night.
Villarreal remain fifth in La Liga, five points off the Champions League qualification places after back-to-back league defeats.
They started the stronger, with top scorer Ayoze Perez twice denied by Thibaut Courtois in the opening seven minutes.
After Courtois tipped a low curling Perez effort behind, Villarreal scored from the resulting corner when captain Foyth slammed home amid a goalmouth scramble.
This sparked Madrid and Mbappe into life and they equalised 10 minutes later.
Mbappe played a through ball to Brahim Diaz and, when his shot was saved by Diego Conde, the Frenchman was on hand to score the rebound.
After netting, Mbappe ran straight back to the centre-circle without celebrating. He meant business and showed it again on 23 minutes.
Following a cutback from the byline, Mbappe was given too much space on the edge of the Villarreal box and used it to curl a shot unstoppably past Conde.
It moves Mbappe to 20 league goals this season, just one behind La Liga top scorer Robert Lewandowski.
Having endured a tough start to life in Madrid, Mbappe has firmly found his feet and will be essential to Real’s push for both La Liga and Champions League success.
He took centre stage here, with usual attacking partner Vinicius Junior starting on the bench following a below-par showing against Atletico in midweek.
Villarreal did push Madrid hard in a fixture which ended 4-4 last season and proved entertaining again here.
Courtois had to go full stretch shortly before half-time to keep out a long-range effort from Nicholas Pepe and again to deny Alex Baena after the break.
After the game, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti expressed his fury at the lack of rest following their Champions League marathon against Atletico last Wednesday.
Madrid played three days after beating their city rivals on penalties following 120 minutes of action at Wanda Metropolitano.
Ancelotti said Real would refuse to play any further games with less than three days between them.
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