NPFL: Enyimba go top despite 1-1 draw against Rangers

Enyimba FC of Aba moved into the summit of the Glo Premier League (Nigeria Professional Football League) for the first time this season after forcing southeast neighbours, Rangers, to a 1-1 draw on Sunday.

Pre-match analysis favoured Enyimba to complete the double on Rangers due to their impressive run in the top division this season so far, and the fact that they had made stellar additions to their intimidating squad.

Enyimba coach, Kadiri Ikhana, gave mid-season signing, Musa Najere, his debut in the blue colours of the club while record league goalscorer, Mfon Udoh, returned to the match day squad for the first time since May.

Coach of Rangers, Imama Amapakabo, also surprisingly gave out-of-favour Super Eagles goalkeeper Chigozie Agbim the nod ahead of Itodo Akor in the startlist.

Rangers made the first impression as Onoriode Odah should have given them the lead but Enyimba keeper Femi Thomas went down well to make a one-handed save from a one-on-one situation.

But Odah made amends for his earlier miss by scooping a header over Thomas for the opening goal just nine minutes after kick-off. It was 1-0 to Rangers with Enyimba faithful stunned into silence.

It took the Peoples Elephant 28 minutes to restore parity. A well-planned move by Enyimba around the box freed Markson Ojobo on the right, who squared into the near post for Najere to convert unmarked past Agbim to put the score at 1-1.

That was the much the game produced in terms of goals as the two teams shared the points. Enyimba have now opened a point lead at the top of the league table having earned 37 points while Rangers stay rooted in 10th place with 28 points.

Leaders before match day 20, Sunshine Stars, dropped to second place after suffering a shock one-nil defeat at FC Taraba. Stephen Adah scored from a rebound just before half time after Ibrahim Sanusi's penalty kick struck the woodwork and bounced into play for the striker to tap home.

Another team in the top-four, Wikki, also failed to win by playing out a goalless draw with Heartland. Wikki are now third while Heartland remain in fifth place.

Giwa FC eased past Kwara United by a lone goal in Jos through Charles Henlong's second half goal. The win takes the Jos-based club to fourth position with 34 points.

League defending champions, Kano Pillars, edged Lobi Stars 2-1 to give their new coach, Mohammed Baba Ganaru a welcome win. Rabiu Ali and Shehu Shagari scored for Pillars in the opening 35 minutes before Tony Okpotu netted Lobi's goal three minutes into the second half. Pillars have climbed into seventh place but Lobi have now dropped into the bottom-four.

Shooting Stars held out well at El-Kanemi for 65 minutes before succumbing to Abraham Audu's goal that proved to be the winner for the Maiduguri club.

Two other matches ended in score draws of 1-1. FC Ifeanyiubah held Abia Warriors in a derby while Akwa United had to wait until added time to see Aniekpeno Udoh's goal cancel Bayelsa United's lead.

Source: npfl.ng

Sunshine Stars slip, promises Akwa tough time as Wikki stuns Ifeanyi Ubah

Sunshine Stars of Akure have dropped to second spot after they were pipped 1-0 by Rangers International in Enugu in Sundays league fixture at the Nnamdi Azikwe Stadium.

The host proved the better side in the first 45' and did not hesitate when the opportunity came calling as Alex Emenike's goal separated by both sides before the half which also proved to be the match decider.

Having lost to a better side on the day, the Akure Gunners conceded defeat and praised the Referee for fair officiating saying that the Antelopes deserved the victory.

Shortly after the match, the club shared via twitter, "Bad day in the office for our boys. The two injuries enforced the substitution, also limited our chances. Rangers deserved their win, the statement reads.

"We will bounce back against Akwa on Wednesday in Akure."

Interestingly, Ifeanyi Ubah lost at home for the first time since joining the Premier league to visiting Wikki Tourists by a lone goal scored by Chukwudi Samue in the 77th minutes.

The victory catapults Wikki to the summit as they now have 27points from 14 league matches, leading Sunshine Stars and Enyimba who also won 2-0 at home by a point.

In other results, last season champions Kano Pillars were held to a 2-2 draw by Dolphins FC who came from behind to put the match at per. Lobi Stars beat Abia Warriors 2-0, Bayelsa 2-0 Kwara United, Giwa FC 3-1 El-kanemi, Sharks 1-1 Heartland, Akwa United 1-1 Warri Wolves.

Meanwhile the only Saturday fixture saw Shooting Stars grab one point away after securing a 1-1 draw against FC Taraba.

Glo Nigeria Premier League Week Two Roundup: Heartland shock shooting, Pillars win as Sunshine Stars escape upset

Nigeria Premier league returnees Shooting Stars have lost two games back to back as they were shocked by visiting Heartland on Saturday.

Google Image: Kano Pillars

Another away victor saw FC Taraba United continued with their impressive performance on in their second game of the season as they defeated Akwa United 1-0 in Akwa Ibom.

Current title holder Kano Pillar were 2-0 better than Bayelsa United, Rangers beat Sharks 3-2, Nassarawa 2-0 Wikki Tourist, Kwara 2-1 Elkanemi Warriors, as Sunshine Stars battled their way through to avoid upset at home edging Gabros by 2-1 in Akure.

Enyimba, Warri Wolves and Dolphins FC were busy on the continent as they had their week two games postponed.

Lobi Stars will host Enyimba while Wolves welcome Giwa FC midweek.

NPFL: Sunshine stars to travel by air for league opener against Sharks FC

Sunshine stars will make their trip to Port Harcourt by air on Friday from Lagos Airport as they confront Sharks Football Club at the weekend in their first game of the season.

The Media Officer of the Akure Gunners Wahab Bankole told Brila FM that the team will move from their preseason base in Abeokuta to Lagos where they will connect a flight to Port Harcourt.

He also mentioned that the team is used to making their long trips by air as they have done in the past season.

Meanwhile other matches will go as schedule except for the game s between Heartland and Kano Pillars that has been postponed indefinitely due to the robbery incident encountered by the league champions on Thursday on their way to Owerri.

Sunshine Stars of Akure unveils new foreign Technical Director Paul Hashfort

In its bead at ensuring a rapid talent discovery and making the existing teams more active both at home and at the continental level,the management of the Ondo State Football Agency has unveiled a new technical crew for the state owned clubs.

Our sports correspondent in Akure Isaac Afolabi reports that at the unveiling ceremony in the state commissioner for sports Mr Bekhikeme Idiahri charged the crew to make hard work their watch word and produce results by grooming and identifying talents alongside winning trophies for the state.

Responding the chairman,Ondo state football academy mr Akin Akinbobola called for cooperation among the crew and the management to achieve greater results.

Mr Akinbobola further called for the support of stakeholders in re defining the state owned clubs.
The unveiled crew includes a former British coach Mr paul Hashfart as the technical director of the agency to be assisted by coach Henry Abiodun.

Others include coach keneddy boboye as the head coach of sunshine fc,coach kayode olujoungbe as sunshine queens coach while coach kayode Julius is in charge of rising stars.

Responding after the unveiling mr Paul hashfart promised to use his experienced to transform the state football and achieve the goals layed down which includes grooming talents,winning trophies and returning the state teams to the continental stage

Nigeria League Bloggers Awards: An Abnormal For The Normal

It could be said without fear of contradiction that the League Bloggers are part of those who strongly believe that actors in the Nigerian Football League should be rewarded and celebrated.

To this end, the League Bloggers Awards for end of 2014 season has been scheduled for December 15th in Lagos, where all the actors in the topflight league, Coaches, Players and Clubs will vie for different categories of awards.

As usual, there is the category for Best Player of the season, Highest Goal Scorer, Best Manager of the season and every other ''best'' you can easily figure out. This is good! In fact that is how it is at the highest level of football after a football tourney.

Frankly speaking, it is not enough to just participate in the league. This what the League Bloggers are drumming into the heart and ears of the who-is-who in the league system. These days, football lovers are more interested in affair beyond the playing field.

Fans want access their favourite club's website to read about the club, players, history and match fixtures. They also want to follow via twitter for exclusive information, get to know how the players are faring on daily basis, which player is being recognized by the club as the ''player of the week or month'' as the case may be and steps the club management is taking in certain situations.

This is how it is in developed world.

At a conference organized by the Sports Writers Association (Lagos Chapter) in 2013, which had Sport Journalist, Club Media Officers and Stakeholder in the Nigeria football scene in attendance, o ne of the speakers, Editor of Kickoff.com, Colin Udoh charged that the power of the social media and other fast evolving media in providing information be harnessed.

Again, that is how it is in other climes.

It is however worthy of note that a few clubs have taken the driver's seat in achieving the aforementioned which has propelled the League Blogger to recognize and encourage such steps.

If the League Bloggers now deem it fit to create categories such as the following, do you not think it's a round peg in a round hole?

The Fair Play Award, Best Use of Social Media (for clubs), Best Website, Best Designed Jersey, Best New Goalkeeper (NPFL), Best Draft from Development Team, Best Development Team, Best New Player, Best Goalkeeper, Best Foreigner, Best Promoted Team and Best National Team Player.

Kano Pillars get Lion share as Glo Premier League clubs share N75m Merit Award

The League Management Company has revealed that N75m will be shared among the 20 Glo Premier League Clubs, an amount which surpasses last season's N50m from the Financial Merit Award.

The merit award represents cash earnings shared to the 20 clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) sponsored by Globacom Limited in accordance with their placing on the final league table ratified by the league body.

League Champions Kano Pillars will recieve N15m as opposed to N10m awarded to the champions last season, LMC Chairman Nduka Irabor revealed in a report on the league body's website.

''Last season, we had a pool of N50m from where clubs shared based on their final placement on the log but this season, the share-out is N75m representing 50% increase across all positions. It therefore means that any club that improved on its position last season will receive even higher than 50%'', stated Hon. Irabor

Runner-up Enyimba will smile to the bank with N11.25m while Warri Wolves who finished third gets N7.5m. And whereas the least placed club got N1m last season, the earning this season is N1.5m, the breakdown further showed.

The distribution order shows that the 4th placed team will receive N3.75m while N3.15m, N2.925M and N2.85m will go to the fifth, sixth and seventh placed teams. Others are N2.775m, N2.7m, N2.625m and N2.55m for the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th placed clubs.

A further breakdown shows that N2.475m, N2.4m, N2.25m and N2.1m will be received by the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th placed clubs while from 16th to 19th will receive N1.95m, N1.875m, N1.8m and N1.575m respectively.

All payments will be made immediately after the NFF Congress ratifies the season’s placement.

LMC postpones final day Glo Premier League matches

The League Management Company (LMC) has announced the postponement of all Match Day 38 games in the Nigeria Glo Premier League which was earlier scheduled for this weekend.

According to report on the league body's website the decision was taken to quell all matters arising from teams which may influence the finishing points. 

The Chief Operating Officer of LMC, Salihu Abubakar said a decision has been reached to shift the end games by another week.

''Some of the protests will affect the final declaration of position of clubs on the log and we are aware that Confederation of African Football (CAF) has issued a November 30 deadline for return of entries for representatives of member federations seeking to play in any of the continental club championships'', Abubakar explained.

''The LMC is committed to protecting the integrity of all match results and will therefore await pronouncement of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) relevant committees on the outstanding protests in the coming days. This way there won’t be any spill over games after the final day of matches'', Abubakar further clarified.

He said the LMC regrets any inconveniences arising from this but insisted it was the right decision to have taken in the circumstance.

Vote your Nigeria Glo Premier League Wonder Goal between Rasheed Olabiyi, Ifeanyi Egwim and Ajia (WATCH VIDEO)

Fans and lovers of the Nigeria football have been given a chance to vote their best goal in the Glo Premier League for the 2013/2014 season.

Rasheed Olabiyi of Enyimba

Enyimba’s  Rasheed Olabiyi, Ifeanyi Egwim of Dolphins and Emmanuel Ajia of El-Kanemi Warriors are in the running for the 4th Wonder Goal Award.

Ifeanyi Egwin of Dolphins FC

The nominees were announced in the League Management Company (LMC) website, www.lmc-ng.org  with fans urged to vote for any of the players whose goal is considered the most spectacular. The LMC had at the inaugural edition of the Wonder Goal scheme stated that it was instituted to reach out to fans and enhance engagement between the Clubs, the fans and the communities.

“The Wonder Goal also seeks to reward marksmanship of the highest quality in the Glo Premier League as it was instituted to celebrate eye-catching and brilliant goals as well as the collective effort that resulted in the superb finish,” the LMC stated on the website Wonder Goal page on its website.

Voting will end by 11.59pm on Saturday, October 4 and the player whose goal attracts the highest number of goals will receive the prize money of N100, 000 from which 50% will be donated to a Charity of his choice within the city where the club is based.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH GOALS  

Unbelievable! Nigerian Premier League Club Kaduna United players protest over unpaid one year salary

Clubs owing footballers has become a norm in the Nigerian soccer scene as report says that Kaduna United FC players on Monday staged a protest over the non-payment of their 12 months salary. Imagine! 

The players told newsmen in Kaduna that they had not been paid any salary this year and the outstanding of last year’s salary.

According to Vanguard, One of the players who spoke to journalist on condition of anonymity said the protest was to appeal to the state government to pay their salaries and allowances to enable them survive.

“This protest is an appeal and we are not fighting the government. We have been working without pay, how do they expect us to survive?

“Most of us have families and we are the bread winners of our various families, so, we have to survive.

“We have been in debt for the past 12 months and still we have to keep our lives going,’’ he said.

The players attributed the club’s poor performance in the current league where they are placed at the bottom of the log on lack of motivation.

Read full report on Vanguard