Sports
Ndubuoke Wants Interim Manager, Overhaul For S’Eagles
The General Manager, Heartland FC of Owerri, Fan Ndubuoke, has urged the Nigerian Football Association (NFA) to appoint an interim manager for the Super Eagles pending the restructuring of the team.
Ndubuoke told the Tidesports over the weekend in Owerri that the NFA needed to fill the vacuum created by Samson Siasia’s sack while it took time to analyse what led to his failure.
“The best thing should be for NFA to take time and analyse the situation and find out why Siasia failed and what made him arrogant as people say,” he said.
The Heartland boss warned the NFA against being in a hurry to appoint another coach for the Eagles.
“ I am not comfortable with the names that are being bandied about as possible replacement. I am still laughing at the names that are being bandied about.
“Why is NFA in a hurry to appoint a new coach just because people are looking for jobs?”
Ndubuoke also advocated for an overhaul of the national team using players from the Nigerian league.
“The practice of always inviting more than eight foreign players each time Nigeria has an international engagement should stop.
“We should not have more than four foreign players and the bulk should be from the Nigerian League.”
Also reacting to Siasia’s sack, the Chairman of the Imo chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, John Nwogu, said that the action was a welcome development.
Nwogu said that since it was part of the terms of contract for Siasia to qualify Nigeria for the Nations Cup, he should be sacked having failed to do so.
He urged the NFA to go for a foreign technical adviser for the Super Eagles, “preferably a Dutch, who will relate well with the players’’.
Meanwhile, in Ilorin, football enthusiasts also received the sack of Siasia with mixed feelings.
A cross-section of football fans, who spoke with Tidesports condemned the decision of the NFA, saying that it was taken in a hurry.
Some of the fans blamed the failure of the national team to qualify for the 2012 African Nations’ Cup on the the players’ loss of focus.
Fatai Alagbede, a football fan, asserted that impatience made the nation’s football governing body to arrive at the decision.
“Siasia should have been given another opportunity. Inconsistency in appointing coaches for the Super Eagles is what has caused the problem of the team.”
He suggested that instead of terminating Siasia’s appointment, a foreign technical adviser should have been considered to oversee the team.
Another, football enthusiast, Lanre Mahmud, condemned the NFA’s action, saying that it was not in the interest of football loving people in the country.
“We are strongly against the decision”
However, some fans lauded the step taken by the body, describing it as a step in the right direction.
Alhaji Fatai Eleja, in his reaction, said that failure of the Eagles to qualify for the Nations’ Cup was enough reason for the NFA to relieve the coach of his appointment.
“Siasia has failed in the mandate given to him to qualify the team for the Nations’ cup.”
He, however, said that efforts should be mad to fill the vacuum in time with a better replacement.
“The NFA should strive hard for a better replacement. It should engage an experienced foreign coach for the job,” he said.
Hon Dike who spoke with sports journalists shortly after the flag off the 2024 edition of Chairman’s Football Unity Tournament at Botem Tai in Tai LGA, said the tournament is an annual event to promote peace and unity in Tai as well identify budding talents in the area for global competition.
The opening ceremony of the tournament was more like a carnival was witnessed by huge crowd including prominent indigenes of Ogoni Kingdom, sports lovers and people from all works of life.
The LGA boss revealed that special sports committee will be setup in the area to work out modalities to strengthen sports development in Tai.
He advised the participants in the tournament from various wards in the LGA to play the game by the rules and conduct themselves in a peaceful and orderly manner and use the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Hon Dike further disclosed that his administration will also give priority attention to skills development among the youth to enhance their human capacity and promote enterprise development in the area.
Earlier in his address the Chairman of Tai LGA Football Council, Elder Wisdom Gorgor said the annual football competition has been a unifying factor in Tai LGA that need to be sustained to forge more unity and development in the area.
He urged the participants to see the competition as an opportunity to embrace football as a full career and earn sustainable livelihood.
Elder Gorgor who commended the Chairman of Tai LGA, Hon Dike for his visionary leadership and tremendous development achievements recorded in the LGA under his administration, appealled to the Chairman to build a Mini Sports Stadium in the area to promote sporting activities.
The training was held at the Sani Abacha Stadium Indoor Basketball Court in Kano last Saturday.
According to the Vice President and Head of NBA Nigeria, Gbemisola Abudu, the event was part of the league’s commitment to growing broader basketball ecosystem in Nigeria and making the game more accessible across the country.
“Our first Jr. NBA clinic in Kano speaks to our commitment to growing the game in Nigeria and creating more opportunities for boys and girls to learn and play the game,” Abudu said.
“Nigeria has a rich basketball history and abundance of talent, which is evident every time you watch an NBA game. We look forward to continuing to engage with basketball stakeholders, business leaders and members of the community to further the game’s reach and impact on young people around the country,” she added.
The 2024 basketball initiative clinics of NBA Nigeria also included the league’s inaugural Jr. NBA elite camp for 150 boys and age-16 girls held at the American International School in Lagos in July.
Others include the NBA’s building of 1,000 courts in Africa over the next decade, Nigeria’s Festival Coins and Salubata named the top two winning businesses at NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator’s inaugural Demo Day in New York City held last September, and the third edition of “NBA Meets Art,” a curated installation celebrating basketball through the lens of Nigerian art and culture as part of West Africa’s premier art fair Art X Lagos, held in November.
Central to this vision is the federation’s investment in capacity building, evident in the just-concluded one-week Level 1 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Coaching Course, which marked a significant milestone for Nigerian badminton.
Held in Abuja, the course brought together 13 young coaches from across Nigeria. The last time such a course was held in the country was in 2017, making this a historic and transformative step.
The training was facilitated by the Badminton Confederation of Africa (BCA) in partnership with the Badminton Federation of Nigeria (BFN) and conducted by Dr. Ahmed Radah, the BCA Development Manager.
Radah, impressed by the talent he witnessed, praised Nigeria’s potential.
“Nigeria is blessed with immense talent and a strong badminton tradition. I believe this country has what it takes to dominate on the global stage,” he remarked.