RandaFooty: Everything Nigerian football, home and abroad

Tinuola Akinola bares his two cents on the vents leading to the Super Eagles 1-1 draw with the visiting Harambee Stars of Kenya....his words... Yes the Super Eagles despite all odds won the African Nation’s Cup in South Africa making it the third time the self styled giant of Africa will be winning the bi-annual competition and the euphoria that trailed the victory of Steven Keshi led side has refused to die down and the whole nation and of course the glass house egg heads forget so soon that winning the AFCON is more or less a liability and an eye opener to other teams around...

To All Nigerians (especially football lovers, football administrators, Football Club promoters, sponsors and potential sponsors of the Nigeria Professional Football League). Revamping the Nigerian Professional Football League…in line with the law and present day realities.  Subsequent to my several press interviews in recent days, I find it necessary to present this communiqué as a forum to consolidate and also provide an update of the workings of the League Management Committee for the benefit of all football stakeholders.  On the 27th of December, 2012, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) in exercise of its statutory powers set up the League Management Committee, to ‘rescue’ professional league football. At its inauguration by Alhaji Aminu Maigari, President of the NFA, the Committee was charged with the following terms of reference:  - organize the 2012/2013 league season; - review all contractual obligations of the Niger...

To All Nigerians (especially football lovers, football administrators, Football Club promoters, sponsors and potential sponsors of the Nigeria Professional Football League). Revamping the Nigerian Professional Football League…in line with the law and present day realities.  Subsequent to my several press interviews in recent days, I find it necessary to present this communiqué as a forum to consolidate and also provide an update of the workings of the League Management Committee for the benefit of all football stakeholders.  On the 27th of December, 2012, the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) in exercise of its statutory powers set up the League Management Committee, to ‘rescue’ professional league football. At its inauguration by Alhaji Aminu Maigari, President of the NFA, the Committee was charged with the following terms of reference:  - organize the 2012/2013 league season; - review all contractual obligations of the Niger...

Iorfa explains significance of Lobi’s jersey Lobi Stars duo of Ezekiel Bassey & Tony Okpotu modeling the jerseys: (Black & White: Tiv Colour) Lobi Stars supremo, Dominic Iorfa, has revealed that the club’s jerseys for the 2012/2013 season symbolize the unique tradition of the Benue people. The jerseys for the new season were unveiled recently by Nigeria’s leading sportswear brand, OWU Sportswear, at an impressive ceremony organised by celebrated Sports PR Consultant, Ojeikere Aikhoje.   Lobi’s duo of Ezekiel Bassey and Tony Okpotu, who are fringe players of the Super Eagles, modeled the jerseys. “The new jerseys represent the Tiv, Idoma and Igede tribes in Benue State. Black & Red: Idoma Colour “Black and White is the Tiv colour, Black and Red is the Idoma colour, while Black and Blue signifies the Igede people in Benue State,” Iorfa said on his personal blog, iorfaonline.blogspot.com . Black & Blue: Igede Colour The former Q...

  1. South Africa can put up a show..... if the want to ( or maybe not). The pitches in this years edition have been crap to say the least. The World Cup pitches used was top notch, maybe this is a step down? who knows, i expected better, i hope it improves as the tournament progresses. 2. The Ivory Coast are not a one man team. Many have labelled the CIV ' Drogba and others' but it's now more of Yaya Toure, Gervinho and others. The way they annihilated Tunisia in their second game speaks volumes of that. Is this their year? lets wait and see. 3. African referees haven't regressed & evidently so. Questionable and inconsistent calls have marred a lot of games. Togo scored a legitimate goal vs CIV that was disallowed. Ghana's goalkeeper Fatau Dauda picked the ball outside his box and was yellow carded while Soumala Abdoulaye of Burkina Faso was given his matching orders for the same offense. Zambia was gifted a penalty that never was vs Nigeria.......

The Super Eagles game against Zambia was a one of  of two halves. Nigeria was pathetic in the first half, they allowed the Zambians free reign in and around the midfield, though Fegor Ogude tried hard to contain the rampaging Zambians. The 4-3-3 formation Coach Stephen deployed didn't work to full effect because the midfield wasn't tight and creative enough to release Ahmed Musa and Victor Moses who played as auxiliary strikers to Emmanuel Emenike. Musa was the main culprit as his wayward crossing put paid to promising counter attacks by Nigeria.  The second half was much more better as Nigeria began to assert themselves on the game. Igiebor for me, was the weakest link in the midfield, his basketball type zonal marking left Ogenyi Onazi ( playing in an unfamiliar right back role) exposed even though both Victor Moses and Ahmed Musa who were alternating between the wings should have tracked back better to support him.  Below is ...

THE NIGERIAN PREMIER LEAGUE: PROBLEMS, PROSPECTS AND A REVIEW OF THE 2012 SEASON T he Nigerian premier league is ranked as the strongest African league for the 2012 season across the continent while also occupying the 24 th  position in the world. This ranking is as a result of classification conducted by the International Football History and Statistics, IFHS through the assessment of performances of clubs from January 1 to July 10 2012, by adding points in all continental competitions of clubs to rate the NPL as the No. 1 in Africa and...