Nigeria return to the field on Tuesday for their first game since winning the bronze medal at the Africa Cup of Nations in July, with Ukraine as the opposition.
Coach Gernot Rohr’s squad will have a slightly different look about it when they meet up in Dnipro. Two of this leading players at the tournament — captain John Obi Mikel and forward Odion Ighalo — retired. Midfielder John Ogu, who has mostly been a backstop, is currently without a club and unlikely to return considering his age. Defender…
Two weeks after her death, the loss of former Super Falcons star Ifeanyi Chiejine at the young age of 36 continues to baffle, both in terms of cause and reaction in Nigeria.
No cause of death has been released, and the Nigeria Football Federation previously said it had no idea she was sick, but ESPN has been told that she had been unwell for a while.
Yinka Kudaisi, who played with Chiejine, painted a sobering picture of the midfielder’s deteriorating condition from as far back as last year.
“We…
As rivalries go, the Old Firm Derby is one of the biggest in the world, but it’s not one that Nigerian fans have paid much attention to… until now.
Glasgow Rangers will take on bitter rivals Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday, and Joe Aribo, a recent Super Eagles call-up, will don the blue kit in a rare instance of Nigerian-as-Ranger.
Aribo is not the first Nigerian to play in the Old Firm Derby. Sone Aluko is the most recent Super Eagle to do so, but he was already a known quantity by the time he joined…
Former Nigeria Super Falcons footballer Ifeanyi Chiejine has passed away in Lagos at the age of 36.
Sources told ESPN that Chiejine, the youngest member of Nigeria’s class of ’99, the team which shone by reaching the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup that year, had been ill for months, but cause of death is as yet unknown.
“This is huge shock. We had no idea that she was sick,” NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi said in a statement.
“Ifeanyi was one of the most naturally gifted players…
Former Nigeria Super Falcons footballer Ifeanyi Chiejine has died in Lagos at the age of 36.
Sources told ESPN that Chiejine, the youngest member of Nigeria’s class of ’99, the team which shone by reaching the quarter finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup that year, had been ill for months, but cause of death is as yet unknown.
“This is huge shock. We had no idea that she was sick,” NFF General Secretary Mohammed Sanusi said in a statement.
“Ifeanyi was one of the most naturally gifted players to…
As time wound down in Leicester City’s second league game of the new Premier League season, a 1-1 draw with Frank Lampard’s regenerating Chelsea, the camera panned to the Foxes bench, catching Kelechi Iheanacho with a forlorn gaze plastered across his visage.
For the second match in a row, the Nigerian sat for 90 minutes as his teammates sweated it out on the pitch, eking out a hard fought draw at a difficult ground. He didn’t even crack the nod to help out at the end.
It is looking like deja vu…
It took Victor Osimhen all of 19 minutes to not only announce his arrival to Ligue 1, but to throw down the gauntlet to any and all competitors for the Nigeria number 9 jersey.
And what a way to make that announcement for the new Lille man, who bagged a brace against FC Nantes in their season opener on the weekend. Nicolas Pepe… who?
For the first goal, Jose Fonte’s hoofed clearance all the way from the back looked anything but dangerous, especially as Osimhen was sandwiched between two defenders….
At £40 million, Alex Iwobi’s Deadline Day move from boyhood club Arsenal to Everton has made him the most expensive Nigerian transfer ever, and saved the Super Eagles from an embarrassingly quiet window.
Finally, a Nigerian has cracked into the top 10 of all-time most expensive African transfers. Iwobi moved into sixth spot, pushing Egypt’s Mohamed Salah (£36.9m) down to seventh. It was a rare Nigerian big-ticket move this offseason.
It is perhaps a reflection of the current state of the…
Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze’s deal with music mogul Jay-Z’s Roc Nation management company has catapulted the Nigeria player, only recently a bench warmer, into the spotlight.
At the recent Africa Cup of Nations, Chukwueze shoved his way into the starting line-up after sitting behind the likes of Moses Simon and Samuel Kalu, going on to star against South Africa in the round of 16, and forming a key part of the Super Eagles’ bronze-winning campaign.
This, along with efforts for his club in…
With Nigeria finishing third in the recent Africa Cup of Nations, not a bad result though also not what Super Eagles fans were after, the lack of transfer interest in their players is glaring.
Europe’s big leagues appear to have little interest in African football’s biggest team, and with the transfer window slowly closing, there’s little sign that will change.
Leicester midfielder Wilfred Ndidi was a rare player to garner attention from a big club, as reports suggested Manchester United could be…