Sports
TNVN Plan Ten Years Tennis Summit In Nigeria
Nigeria was once one of the best tennis-playing nations in the world. Although nobody from the country has won any of the Grand Slam titles, there was a time when Nigerian players were always in the equation when permutations of upcoming events were being made.
Then, especially in the 1970s up till the early 1990s, Nigeria had players like Nduka Odizor, David Imonitie, Tony Mmoh, and Sadiq Abdullahi, who not only brought glamour to the country’s game but was also good enough to compete successfully in the world circuit.
When Odizor, who was once ranked number 52nd in the world, eased off the challenges of Loic Courteau of France in the third round, seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe’s doubles partner Peter Fleming of U.S. in the second round, and Guillermo Vilas of Argentina in the first round at the Wimbledon in 1983, many tennis watchers thought that at last, Nigeria had come to take its position in the comity of tennis playing nations. But that has not happened 40 years after.
Although Nigeria held its own in the Davis Cup, which is the tennis World Cup, up until the late 1990s, the country has not been able to fulfill its potential in the game that guarantees fame and fortune for its talented players.
As a matter of act, the country’s game has been on a downward spiral since the turn of the century such that it no longer features among elite African tennis-playing nations.
There have been efforts to revive the game in the recent past, but some of such efforts have not yielded the desired results. The introduction and/or revival of such competitions as the Ogbe Hard Court, Dala Hard Court, Governor’s Cup Lagos Tennis Championship, and the CBN Open Championship has only served to keep the game in the minds of its connoisseurs. They have not solved the problem of talent development that has bedeviled the country for so long. But that could be about to end.
Africa’s former number one star, Dr. Sadiq Abdullahi, believes that The Tennis Nigeria Vision Network (TNVN), which he champions, will, in 10 years from 2025, produce talented players that would take the country back among the world’s elite tennis-playing nations.
Describing TNVN as the formula the country needs to get back its place as Africa’s top nation in the game, Abdullahi said the programme has been formulated in such a way that talented young boys and girls across the country would find the pathway to greatness in the sport.
He explained: “TNVN is about identifying the most talented players from the zones. We have decided that if we can get two to four talented players from each of the zones and the FCT, then the vision will now seek resources for them, and take them through a path to success.
“The programme has residential and non-residential stages, which will lead to the after-school class and then to the elite programme. The first part of the vision is like a mini tennis stage, which ensures that every programme across the country will be registered with us. In it, the coaches will independently be working with their normal five to 10 players, with the best players identified and registered for proper development.
“We expect that every zone of the country will have an activity going on with players in the nine-to-five group and from this group we should be able to identify one or two talented players, who will move into the second phase, which is the primary school class. Once they get into primary school, we start monitoring and guiding them. But the primary school programme will still be non-residential because they are under-age.
“However, in agreement with their parents, we will take the talented ones to some designated schools, where they will be given specialised coaching to develop into elite players.”
Abdullahi revealed that TNVN would provide a tennis curriculum for schools involved in the project and ensure that they meet the requirements needed to continue being part of the programme.
“For example, if they are in a specialised secondary school, which starts from age 10, they will be in that school for six years, which means that they will graduate at 16 and after graduation, the best will join the elite programme. The Segun Odegbami School is willing to take four of the participants, boys or girls, who will stay in the school until they graduate at 16. If they meet all the criteria, they will move to the elite programme, which starts with players at age 17. They stay in the programme at the age of 17 or 18 and if they are outstanding, they will go into the professional ranks. But there are some conditions they have to meet to be in the elite class. That in essence, is what the vision entails.”
Abdullahi said TNVN would not be hampered by inadequate or lack of facilities as the participating schools must have at least two tennis courts to be part of the programme. He added that the project would encourage politicians to include tennis courts in their constituency projects to ensure the availability of the facility to even those who may not be part of the programme.
“Before you join us, you must have a programme and at least two or three tennis courts. But we can work with governments or politicians who want to do constituency projects. We can help them to build tennis courts if they want to build a sports centre.
“Facility is not the problem, but the funding. We need a lot of money for the programnme. It is developmental. Once a kid meets all the requirements and at 12 years old, that kid must be ready to attend world junior ranking events. At 12 years old, we will be taking the kids to the United States for further training and exposure. At 12, 13, and 14 you need to be in the junior circuit.
“Our problem is in identifying good coaches that will stay with modern coaching and then parental agreement, and all of that because if a kid meets our criteria, then we want to prepare that kid for the challenges in the circuit.
“If a kid does not attend world junior ranking events at 12, then he is not meeting the criteria. You see, the standard is very high.”
According to the Seoul 1988 Olympics star, if the TNVN project could get two talented players from each region and the FCT, it would have 12 solid players to train to international standards. That would guarantee Nigeria players for the Davis Cup and other top competitions.
“The project will start in 2025 and we are saying to Nigerians, give us 10 years and after these years, you will start seeing results. If somebody gets into the vision at 10, at 20 there must be something to hold on to. They should be on the pro circuit at 19 years. For the girls, maybe at 17 years. That is the vision.”
Abdullahi disclosed that one of the big challenges facing TNVN is how to sell the vision to corporate Nigeria and critical tennis stakeholders. He added: “This is a national developmental project that requires the buy-in of all stakeholders. This is my last effort at building something for Nigeria. It is not going to be easy and after it, I am done.
“However, I am excited because we have tennis courts in elite clubs in the country, even though some of the clubs do not allow children to learn with their facilities.
“In today’s world, one person cannot develop a player to international standard. We need everybody involved in tennis to be part of this project. We know that some people make money from organising tennis tournaments, but we are not trying to stop them. Rather, we will help them to make more money by developing players that will attract sponsors and big opportunities for the country.”
He acknowledged that North Africans and South Africa have good programmes that have kept their tennis on top in the continent. He added, however, that Nigeria’s population should be an advantage because the country has a large pool of talent to draw from.
“These countries have active tennis federations and good coaches. They have programmes that identify talents quickly, from ages nine and 10. Every opportunity they get, they train their kids to hit the ball correctly. They have better facilities than Nigeria, but we can overcome that handicap first by building a tennis culture in our people.
“When we have children of ages five, six, and seven years old, we can involve them in mini tennis, which doesn’t require that they leave their house to play the game. Parents can start training their children in small corners of their compounds, play with their children and get them started from that little space.”
He said that unity schools across the country would play significant roles in the programme because most of them have tennis courts.
“The plan is to identify the unity schools that have tennis courts and the leaders of the zones will now visit the schools to check out the state of the courts. Primary schools that also have tennis courts would serve as centres for the out-of-school programme.
By: Christian Okpara
Nigerian football fans and former internationals may have finally joined the call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to save Nigerian football from the grip of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), demanding a complete overhaul and the resignation of the board following a series of national-team heartbreaks, including the Super Eagles’ failure to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, their second consecutive absence and the Super Falcons’ recent loss of an automatic qualification spot for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Until now, football legend Segun Odegbami has been a lone voice in the vanguard of those calling on the Ibrahim Gusau-led NFF board to step aside. However, many ex-internationals, angered that the national embarrassment has now spilled over to the women’s team, have joined the call to “save our football.”
“We are demanding a total systemic clear-out and consequences at every tier of Nigerian football,” one of the former players said yesterday, pleading to remain anonymous to avoid “arrows” from what he described as desperate officials holding Nigerian football by the jugular.
Ahead of the September 27, 2026 elective congress of the NFF, scheduled to hold in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Chairman of the Advocacy for Nigeria Football Reforms Initiative, Prince Harrison Jalla, has also painted a gloomy picture of the future of Nigerian football.
Jalla’s position is in tandem with that of some aspirants who are also crying blue murder, alleging that the electoral procedure is skewed in favour of incumbent NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau to secure a smooth passage to a second term unopposed.
Jalla insisted that “all indicators are pointing to a gloomy picture for the future of Nigerian football, mainly due to administrative ineptitude, while the gladiators remain engrossed and fixated on the election.”
“The major crux of the election is the guidelines, which make it very difficult for other candidates to secure endorsements from across the six geopolitical zones to challenge Gusau.
“The NFF elective congress creates a skewed voting structure because [certain blocs] hold an overwhelming majority of the voting power, which critics argue marginalises key football stakeholders such as club owners, players, coaches, referees and sports writers.
“Out of the total delegates and voting structure, the 37 State FA chairmen form the primary voting bloc, making it difficult for independent candidates to win.
“This is so because of the marriage between the FA chairmen and the NFF. Most FA chairmen depend solely on the Federation for favours. Over time, during national and international engagements, the NFF uses such opportunities to reward the FA chairmen with trips and estacodes.
“They have been so compromised that no Jupiter would make them see reasons for a change. The system, therefore, heavily favours the incumbent leadership seeking re-election. That explains why they were in a hurry to pass a vote of confidence in the NFF leadership even when Nigerian football became topsy-turvy.
“As desperation has beclouded their reasoning, they have forgotten how low they have dragged Nigerian football.”
A cursory look at the catalogue of failures by Nigeria’s national teams will reveal this;
Super Eagles (Senior Men): Failed to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Their campaign ended in agonising fashion in November 2025 during the CAF playoff final, when they lost 4–3 on penalties to DR Congo. This marked the second consecutive World Cup missed by the senior national team. Earlier, in January 2026, they were also eliminated from the 2025 AFCON via a penalty shootout.
Super Falcons (Senior Women): Suffered an early continental exit by losing 1–0 to Cameroon in the 2026 WAFCON quarter-finals. The defeat stripped them of an automatic ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil, forcing them into an inter-confederation playoff route. Worse still, Banyana Banyana of South Africa stopped the Super Falcons with a 2-1 defeat in Morocco, marking Nigeria’s worst outing in the history of WAFCON.
Golden Eaglets (Men’s U-17): Failed to qualify for the U-17 AFCON and subsequently missed out on three consecutive FIFA U-17 World Cups — 2023, 2025 and 2026.
Flying Eagles (Men’s U-20): Missed both the 2026 U-20 AFCON and the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Olympic Team (Men’s U-23): Failed to qualify for the 2023 U-23 AFCON, which directly resulted in their failure to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
An official NFF apology to the government and Nigerians was met with backlash, with fans dismissing it as “too little, too late” and “one apology too many”, while demanding actual resignations.
The current frustration among fans stems from what they regard as an unprecedented catalogue of systemic failures across all tiers of Nigeria’s national teams.
Segun Odegbami said the failures had become one too many.
“If you fail to take your team to the World Cup, you find out that more often than not, they vote you out or sack you.
“That’s the measure. If you have a coach who doesn’t do well, they sack him. If you have a player who is doing badly, you remove him.”
“These guys have not succeeded. They’re our friends; that’s the painful thing. We know ourselves. We are all in the business and, when we champion the fact that they should go, they make you an enemy.
“It’s not a personalised thing. They have failed and, if we go back to that route, we are going to fail as we have failed before,” he said.
The financial damage from missing recent major tournaments is equally devastating, with total losses estimated at between ?150 billion and ?300 billion in direct payouts and broader economic partnerships.
This continuous string of qualification failures has effectively choked off the federation’s primary revenue pipelines and left its local development initiatives starved of funds.
The economic wreckage breaks down across several critical areas. By failing to reach the expanded World Cup, the NFF forfeited a guaranteed baseline participation fee of $10.5 million, reportedly worth roughly ?15.5 billion.
This single tournament loss wiped out an amount equivalent to roughly 87 per cent of the NFF’s projected annual operational budget. Had the Super Eagles advanced beyond the group stage, the rewards would have risen above $12 million, while reaching the quarter-finals could have yielded up to $20 million in performance-related payments.
Early exits by the Super Falcons and the qualification failures of the youth teams, U-17, U-20 and U-23, mean the NFF has also missed out on vital developmental subsidies and travel grants normally provided by continental governing bodies.
Corporate organisations and major sports betting companies are scaling back their sponsorship valuations. Without global television exposure, the NFF cannot command premium rates for brand placement.
The federation also misses out on potential revenue from global jersey sales, training gear and licensed supporter memorabilia that normally spike around major tournaments.
By missing out on tournament participation, Nigeria also loses leverage to draw heavily from FIFA’s financial programmes aimed at upgrading domestic training academies and pitches.
Consecutive missed World Cups have further lowered the market value of the national team brand, making future broadcast and marketing rights significantly harder to sell at a premium.
Former Ajax midfielder Hedwiges Maduro has praised Nigerian striker Tolu Arokodare, highlighting the forward’s strength and power and suggesting that he could prove valuable to Ajax in the Eredivisie.
Arokodare joined Ajax from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season-long loan in July, with the Dutch club holding an option to make the move permanent.
He has already made an impact for his new side, providing an assist in Ajax’s 2-0 victory over PEC Zwolle in their opening Eredivisie fixture.
Maduro discussed Arokodare’s qualities during an appearance on ESPN’s Voetbalpraat, where he assessed how the Nigerian could complement Ajax’s attacking options.
He sees Arokodare as offering a different profile to Marcos Leonardo, particularly against opponents who defend deep and limit the space available for attacking runs.
Speaking about the Nigerian striker, Maduro highlighted his physical qualities and explained why he believes they could make him a valuable option for Ajax in the Dutch top flight.
“I think Tolu has something special, in terms of strength and power. I think he can be of real value in the Eredivisie,” Maduro said, as quoted by Ajax Showtime.
According to Maduro, the tactical demands of certain matches could make Arokodare’s physical presence an important option for Ajax, especially when opponents retreat towards their own penalty area.
He contrasted the situation with Leonardo, who he believes benefits from having space to make attacking runs. Maduro explained that when teams defend deep, those spaces become more difficult to find.
“Leonardo needs space. If teams drop back completely, where are you going to make those runs?
Then you get more use out of Tolu as a focal point to drop the ball,” he added.
The Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee, LOC, of the Arsenal Nigeria Converge 2026, Ugochukwu Oputa, has said that over 25 states across Nigeria were involved in the second edition of the Arsenal Converge scheduled for Port Harcourt from August 14 to 16, 2026.
Oputa disclosed this on Sunday after the Converge meeting at the Ediz Wine Bar in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to him, Arsenal’s popularity cuts across the nation, and the Converge is organized to provide a period for supporters to network, interact, and harmonize.
“Knowing how Arsenal’s popularity is spread across the nation, it became necessary that all the different supporters of Arsenal club across the country harmonize and create a particular period where we can meet, network and interact,” Oputa said.
He outlined the five-day schedule of activities to include
Press conference,
Environmental sanitation and community service at Mile 1 Market, Diobu, involving both visitors and residents, arrival, welcome and cocktail party. Others included Games Day, football competition and other fun activities at the Rivers State University football pitch, Community Shield watch party yesterday, where all Arsenal supporters’ groups met, interacted, and discussed the future of Arsenal, including plans for the 2027 hosting rights of the Converge.
Oputa added that this year’s Converge which was in Port Harcourt, had over 3,000 fans registered.
“Port Harcourt Arsenal Community is a recognized supporters’ club of Arsenal in London and we have over 25 states that participated in the Arsenal Nigeria Converge 2026,” he said.
Also speaking, a member of the Nigeria Arsenal Supporters Working Committee, Nsikak Ntia, said that what distinguishes Arsenal supporters is their offline community impact.
“What we are doing here in Port Harcourt is beyond football. It’s a family that is growing. We had over 3,000 to 4,000 people on Saturday at the Rivers State University that shared the confidence that Arsenal represents,” Ntia said.
He noted that the club’s motto, ‘Victoria Concordia Crescit’ – ‘Victory Through Harmony’ – is the bedrock of the group.
“The work that we do at Mile 1 Market is to help with environmental protection and increase what we do in society.
“We also have future plans to promote environmental protection and better ways to handle waste.
“These are things that are germane for our future, the future of our young people and generations unborn.
” It goes beyond football, it goes beyond banter, it goes beyond yapping at each other.
“That is what Arsenal Football Club is all about. Arsenal has the most well-organized supporters’ club in Nigeria and Africa’ he sated.
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