Nigeria Sports Arena

Nigeria’s flagbearers in continental competition return to action this weekend, with elite division champions Kano Pillars staring down the barrel of a huge task at the Sani Abacha Stadium on Saturday afternoon.  They host Moroccan side, Moghreb Athletic Tetouane with a whole four goals deficit from the first leg at the Stade Saniat Rmel on March 21.  Chairman of the Pillars’ Champions League Campaign Committee, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima has expressed confidence that the Nigerian champions will overcome the huge setback and sail into the next round.  Nigeria’s other CAF Champions League representatives, Enyimba FC will depart the country on Friday for their return leg clash with Smouha FC of Egypt, scheduled for Sunday. They will travel aboard Egypt Air from Lagos.  A letter from the Egyptian Football Association has informed the NFF that the match will be played at the Alexandria Stadium in Egypt’s second city, starting ...

Warri Wolves FC defeated Dedebit FC of Ethiopia 2-0 on Saturday in their CAF Confederation Cup first round, first leg match at the Warri City Stadium. Nigeria U-23 team striker Etebo Oghenekaro scored after eight minutes, but the expected avalanche refused to materialize as the Nigerian representatives then found it difficult dominating their opponents. Wolves had dismissed Racing Club Bobo-Dioulasso 3-0 in their preliminary round, second leg clash at the same venue, but struggled to get past Dedebit, who pumped Cote d’Or of Seychelles home and away in the earlier round. Returnee forward Gbolahan Salami made the scoreline respectable for the Nigerians when he tucked in a penalty kick awarded the Nigerians 10 minutes to the end. The return leg will take place in Addis Ababa in two weeks.

  Dolphins will play their CAF Confederation Cup 1st round match against Club African in Tunisia on Saturday, March 14, 2015.   The Confederation of African Football, CAF had fixed the weekend of March 13-15 for the game but latest reports reaching Dolphins from the Nigeria Football Federation have confirmed the game will be played on Saturday, March 14,   Kick off time for the game is 3pm local time at the Stade de Olympics in Tunis.   Dolphins have never played against Club Africain or any Tunisia side in any of the CAF Competitions.  

Nigeria Professional Football League teams on the continent put up a decent performance over the weekend in the second leg of this year continental engagement as the four clubs representing Nigeria qualified for the next round of action with convincing victories, Dolphins Football Club of Port Harcourt won their game on penalty shootout. Last weekend continental football for Nigeria clubs saw all teams from the league scoring eight goals, six out of which came from home ground. NPFL reigning champions, Kano Pillars thrashed Al Malaika 3-0 in Kano, Warri Wolves crushed Racing Club Bobo by three goals to nothing, The Peoples' Elephant put the icing on the cake in Benin Republic with a one nill victory over their host Buffles Du Borgu, Dolphins edged their opponents via a penalty shootout 5-3 after leading them 1-0 in the entire duration. Gambo Mohammed sends the fans at the Sanni Abacha stadium to jubilation when he opened the score sheet to give the Sai Masu Gida the lead after 3...

The Association of Nigeria Premier League Club Chairmen and Managers( Club Owners) have condemned in strong terms the recent reported alleged attack on the head coach of Sharks FC of Port Harcourt coach Gbenga Ogunbote by suspected irate fans of the club. Reports said that some suspected irate fans of Sharks FC of PH last week attacked the head coach of the club, alongside the skipper of the team Odinga Odinga over issues of recruitment of players into the south south Club. In statement by the Club Owners jointly Signed by the Ag. Chairman Barr. Isaac Danladi and the Ag. Secretary Alloy Chukwuemeka, the Association described such acts as babaric and unsporting behaviour capable of sending bad signal of the football community in Nigeria. The statement further said that the Club Owners will summon the Management of the Garden City club at its emergency meeting in Abuja next week to get more information on the matter and would thereafter institute an investigation to unravel the circum...

After a pulsating ninety minutes of football, Dolphins scored one goal, took the game to penalty shoot outs and won 5-3 to edge past Leones Vegetarianos FC in the CAF Confederation Cup preliminary round.   Dolphins lost the 1st leg 1-0, and started the return leg the same way they did in Malabo by missing glaring chances.   As early as the 2nd minute Ifeanyi Egwim found space in the Vegetarianos area but his cross went way of mark and an overlapping Ayobami Asekunowo could not connect.   In the 16th minute it was the turn of Victor Alegbe to miss as some good passing moves by Dolphins completely split the Vegetarianos defence open but Alegbe who had just the post in front of him with goalkeeper Yannick out of the way blasted wide.   Fredor for the visitors had his chance to get a crucial away goal for his side in the 27th minute when they had a free kick after Jonathan Zikiye had fouled his man but his free header went wide after Sunday Rotimi had been beaten...

Warri Wolves dynamic defender, Oke Ogagatewho who joined the Club last season from highly rated Sunshine Stars has declared that the players are battle ready for the second leg of the CAF Confederation C up match fixed for the Warri City Stadium on Saturday. Speaking after the morning training on Friday from their hotel room where they are presently camped in Warri, Oke said they have made up their mind on this year's competition and will use RC Bobo Dioulasso on Saturday to tell the World that they are fully ready. The diminutive defender who was on the bench in Bobo Dioulasso but may likely get a starting shirt on Saturday said to an extent, the Management have motivated them and that will spur us to victory.He however appealed to the fans to join them in this battle because they have a huge role to play. " We are battle ready for this match. We have worked hard and what the management has done in terms of meeting our demand has really worked. As they say in Warri" ...

Nigeria Professional Football League teams on the continent began their 2015 continental quest on a high as three teams out of four representing the country, Kano Pillars,  Enyimba international Footba Club, Warri Wolves won their respective games, while Dolphins Football Club lost narrowly to Equatorial Guinean side Leones Vegetarianos. The weekend continental football for Nigeria clubs saw three teams from the league scoring six goals, three out of which came from away ground in the encounter between Al Malaika FC and NPFL reigning champions, Pillars won 0-2, Warri Wolves also pipped Racing Club Bobo 0-1. The Peoples' Elephant netted thrice as they pummel Buffles Du Borgu of Benin Republic, Dolphins were the only Nigerian club on the continent that failed to record a decent result after loosing 1-0 away from home to Leones Vegetarianos. Gambo Mohammed opened the score sheet four minutes into second half and gave the Sai Masu Gida the long awaited lead before red hot Christian O...

Dolphins Football Club of Port Harcourt left full back Jonathan Zikiye has assured Nigerians that the Pride of Rivers will come back home with a good result as he look forward to making his first continental engagement. The Port Harcourt based team we will be up against Leones Vegetarianos of Equatorial Guinea in their first encounter of the 2015 CAF Confederation Cup this Saturday at the Estadio de Malabo by 4pm Nigerian time. Stanley Eguma's men didn't live up to expectations at the Super 4 invitational tournament held at the Abuja National Stadium but Zikiye who should be featuring for the 2014 Federation Cup finalists for the first time in his football career has boosted that his team will not disappoint Nigerians. The former Nembe City player said" We are positive that something good will come out of our game at the end of the day. "We have put the Super 4 outing behind us and have been working hard towards getting a good result and a better outing from this ...

  Onyekachi Bartholomew Akakem will no longer play for Khaleej Sirte SC as he has put pen on paper to play for Dolphins this year.   The defence strong man who is comfortable in central defense and defensive midfield has also been registered to play for the team in the CAF Confederation Cup that starts next month.   Onyekachi Akakem is good with both feet, a good man marker and is a combative defender. He is calm and comfortable on the ball and prefers the short pass from defence to build up play, rather than boot the ball out. He is good in the air and is technically sound.   He had preciously had stint with Ajiya Babes, Ocean Boys, Heartland, Rangers and most recently Khaleej Sirte SC in Libya.   He reported to the team camp today (Monday) and is ready and rearing to go.   In the Dolphins team, he will have the likes of Victor Ezuruike, Joseph Douhadji and Ayobami Asekunowo to contend with for a starting place in the Dolphins team this season...

  Players of Dolphins returned to Port Harcourt over the past weekend as they begin preparations for 2014/15 football season.   Dolphins will attack football in all fronts- the CAF Confederation Cup, Nigeria Professional Football League and Nigeria Federation Cup.   The team currently has four weeks to its opening match in the CAF Confederation Cup, a road trip to Leonas Vegetarianos of Equatorial Guinea and hope to be ready enough for that game.   “Three weeks of training plus five games in the League Management Company organized pre-season tournament next week may not be enough preparation but is above average considering the circumstance,” Media Officer of the club, China Acheru said.   “The old players of the club have returned and we expect the newly signed on players to be in camp by today (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday) so the coaches can start their fitness exercise then begin to impose their philosophy on the team.” ...

  The Nigeria Football Federation has warned clubs representing the country in continental competitions next year that they would bear all sanctions imposed by the Confederation of African Football for their own late registration for those competitions.   In a letter sent to the four clubs (Kano Pillars FC and Enyimba FC in the CAF Champions League, and Warri Wolves FC and Dolphins FC in the CAF Confederation Cup) on Monday, the NFF stated categorically: “The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) seriously warns that your club should be ready to face ANY SANCTION the organizer (CAF) will give erring clubs.”   While reminding the four clubs that other clubs representing other countries in next year’s club competitions have already finished the registration process, the NFF gave the four clubs until Wednesday, 17th December, 2014 to submit their players’ details or face the prospect of disqualification.   Kano Pillars and Enyimba finished as...

Warri Wolves Football Club has sent 23 names to CAF for registration towards the forthcoming CAF Confederation Cup assignment while 12 others have been asked to look elsewhere to ply their trade as the Club prepare for the coming season. Arising from a meeting which was chaired by the Managing Director, Davidson Owumi on Monday, Management also concluded that there would be no screening rather, the Club will upgrade two players from the feeder team who are adjudged to be good enough to play in the Premiership,  recruit three young  players from Delta State, and sign five players which have been invited and discussion almost concluded. The Club also agreed not to release the names of those who have been asked to go and also those who are coming in until a later date but they should be informed that there services are no longer required. " It was a crucial meeting where we took some drastic decisions. We are going to retain 23 players and their names have been sent to CAF for...