In this report, Idris Adesina reviews the major sporting events of the outgoing year
The outgoing year was quite eventful for sports in Nigeria. Here are some of the major happenings during the year.
Commonwealth Games
Nigeria made her 14th appearance at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, in April. With a team of 88 athletes, who competed in eight sports, Nigeria finished ninth with nine gold, nine silver and six bronze medals. The country’s medals came from athletics, boxing, powerlifting, table tennis and wrestling.
Asaba 2018 African Championships
The African Senior Athletics Championship was staged at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, Delta State, in August. The competition, which was won by Kenya, with South Africa and Nigeria in second and third positions, was rocked by several problems. The opening ceremony and some events could not go ahead as scheduled on the first day of the competition because athletes were arriving on the morning of the first day while others arrived on the second day. The Kenyan and Ethiopian teams arrived a few hours to the start of their events. The tracks of the Stephen Keshi Stadium also drew the ire of star athletes like Seye Ogunlewe of Nigeria, and Akani Simbine of South Africa, among others. Towards the end of the competition, the hurriedly assembled water tank in the stadium collapsed and crushed some cars outside the event venue.
Junior football teams
The Flamingoes failed to qualify for the U-17 Women’s World Cup after they lost on away goal rule to Cameroon. They battled Cameroon to a 1-1 draw in Yaounde but were held 2-2 in Benin in the return leg for a 3-3 aggregate. But the men’s U-17 and U-20 teams qualified for the 2019 Africa U-17 and U-20 Cup of Nations, respectively. The Golden Eaglets won the WAFU U-17 Cup of Nations to qualify for Tanzania 2019 while the Flying Eagles beat Guinea Bissau and Mauritania to qualify for the tournament holding in Niger.
Falconets fail in France
Two-time finalists, the Falconets, exited the France 2018 U-20 Women’s World Cup in the quarter-finals after they were beaten 2-1 by eventual runners-up Spain. They finished second behind Germany in Group D with four points after beating Haiti and playing a 1-1 draw with China.
Basketball teams shine
The country’s men and women’s basketball teams were impressive in 2018. After winning the 2017 FIBA AfroBasket title, D’Tigress became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals of the competition. They finished eighth in Spain. For D’Tigers, they were the first African team to qualify for the 2019 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup in China. They qualified with a window to spare and have been unbeaten in nine matches in the qualifiers. They play their last qualifying match in February 2019.
Pinnick breaks NFF jinx
Nigeria Football Federation president Amaju Pinnick, at the elective congress of the football-ruling body in Katsina in September, became the first sitting president to return to the Glasshouse for a second term in office. The Delta State-born administrator polled 34 votes ahead of the other three contestants – former NFF boss Aminu Maigari (eight votes), Taiwo Ogunjobi (two votes) and Chinedu Okoye, who did not have any vote.
Crisis rocks Glasshouse
Chris Giwa returned to the Glasshouse as the president of the NFF on July 1, while Pinnick was in Russia on World Cup duty. Giwa claimed he was declared president by the Supreme Court in its June 5 ruling.
The Giwa FC owner was accompanied by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Sports, Obinna Ogba; board member representing the North-West, Shehu Adamu; Sanni Ferma for the North-East; board member representing the South-South, Johnson Effiong; South-West member, Sunday Ajayi; and Yaya Adams for the North-Central. They were further strengthened by a statement from the sports minister, Solomon Dalung, which instructed the federation to comply with the judgment of the Supreme Court. However, the intervention of the Federal Government, following threats of a ban by FIFA, ended the confusion.
NPFL ends abruptly
The league couldn’t resume immediately after the World Cup as scheduled. The League Management Company, after a meeting with the club owners, decided to end the season with just 24 matches played – and declared Lobi Stars, who were at the summit of the league, as representatives of the country in the CAF Champions League. They also resolved not to relegate any team with the 2018/19 season to be played in an abridged format.
Super 8
Following the decision of the NPFL not to relegate any club from the league, the Nigeria National League, at a congress, decided to promote eight teams from the league and also not relegate any team. This is against the decision taken at the beginning of the season by the league and the NNL club owners that a Super 8 play-off would be used to determine four teams to be promoted to the Nigerian topflight. Eight teams – Remo Stars, Kada City Stars, Kogi United, Delta Force, Insurance, Shooting Stars, Gombe United and Real Stars – finished first and second in the four groups of the lower league at the end of the season. However, drama began when the Nigeria Football Federation and the LMC insisted that the play-offs must hold with only four teams promoted. The Chief Executive Officer of the league Bukola Olopade resigned from his position, saying the NFF failed in its promise to support any decision taken by the NNL on the issue. Upon the instruction of the NFF Emergency Committee that the play-offs should be held before December 21, five of the eight teams – Remo, Kogi, Kada, 3SC and Insurance – failed to show up for the competition, saying their players had gone on break. However, the NFF last week instructed that the play-offs must hold before January 3, 2019.
NSF returns after six years
After several postponements by Cross River State, who was to host the National Sports Festival in 2014, the country’s Olympic Games returned to the nation’s capital earlier this month. The sports minister Solomon Dalung had promised that the Games would hold in 2018, which led to the withdrawal of the hosting rights from Calabar. Although the competition witnessed many flaws as the facilities used were not in good condition, the athletes gave their best and were excited the competition returned. The competition threw up some upsets as some big names like Funke Oshonaike were beaten by little-known home-based athletes. Delta State won the competition.
Eagles return to Africa
After missing the last two editions of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015 and 2017, Nigeria secured qualification to the 2019 edition with a game to spare after sitting at the top of Group E – which also has South Africa, Libya and Seychelles – with 10 points. They will play their final match in the group against Seychelles in March 2019.
Falcons win again
Despite their poor preparations for the tournament, the Super Falcons, once again, won the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations in Ghana. Unpaid bonuses and lack of kits among other factors rocked the squad ahead of the trip to Accra. But after falling 1-0 to South Africa in their opening game, the Nigerians bounced back to reach the final and also avenged their loss to the Banyana Banyana via penalties. They also qualified for the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
NBBF crisis
The Nigeria Basketball Federation also found itself embroiled in a leadership tussle, which began in 2017. The two factions of the federation – the Tijjani Umar-led faction and the Musa Ahmadu-Kida-led board – failed to resolve the crisis amicably leading to a visit by a fact-finding delegation from the world basketball-governing body, FIBA, in February. They met with the two factions and the Nigeria Olympic Committee. FIBA then decided that fresh elections would be held into the board of the NBBF but the world-body awarded the right to organise international and local competitions to the Kida-led board. However, the Umar-faction defied the order and went ahead to organise the Kwese Premier Basketball league which produced Gombe Bulls as champions. The Kida board also organised an abridged league which produced Rivers Hoopers as champions and Nigeria’s representatives in the FIBA Zone 3 Champions Cup.
Bitter-sweet tales for wrestlers
Nigeria hosted the African Wrestling Championships in Port Harcourt in February and dominated the competition. The country won 15 gold, five silver and three bronze medals to win the competition. New wrestlers were also discovered at the tournament.
However, after winning a silver medal at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships in France, the country failed to impress at the 2018 edition in Budapest. With a lean team of five female wrestlers, they couldn’t progress beyond the quarter-finals in all the categories they competed in.
Real Madrid make history
Real Madrid during the year became the first European club to win the UEFA Champions League three consecutive times. They beat Liverpool 3-1 in the final in May. The Los Blancos have won the title 13 times. They also became the record winners of the World Club Cup after they won the 2018 title with a 4-1 victory over Abu Dhabi club Al Ain. It is their fourth title of the competition.
Modric breaks Messi-Ronaldo reign
The biggest news in world football was Luka Modric being crowned the FIFA Best Player of the Year as well as winning the Ballon d’Or to put an end to a 10-year domination of the awards by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The Croatian, who was also named the Croatian Footballer of the Year, won the Most Valuable Player award at the Russia 2018 World Cup as he led Croatia to a second place finish at the tournament. He also helped Real Madrid win a third consecutive Champions League title last season.
Osaka shocks Serena
In September Japanese youngster, Naomi Osaka, shocked her childhood idol, Serena Williams, who was competing in just her second tournament after her maternity leave, in the final of the US Open. The 21-year-old beat Serena 6-2, 6-4 to win her first Grand Slam title. She also became the first Japanese woman to win a Grand Slam.
Fury/Wilder clash
After serving a ban for doping, British heavyweight boxer, Tyson fury, returned to the ring in 2018. He took on WBC champion Deontay Wilder in one of the most talked about fights of the year. The fight ended in a draw for both fighters to remain unbeaten in their careers.
Mbappe shines
France and PSG youngster Mbappe had a blistering 2018. His goals helping France win the 2018 World Cup in Russia while also contributing to PSG’s Ligue 1 triumph. He was named the FIFA World Cup Best Young Player as well as the first Kopa Trophy for young players by France Football Magazine. He was recently named the French Footballer of the Year.
France’s African ???? in Russia
The World Cup held in Russia between June 14 and July 15 with France winning their second world title after beating Croatia 4-2 in the final. The 64 matches were played in 12 cities and 169 goals were scored. Luka Modric of Croatia won the Golden Ball while England’s Harry Kane scored six goals to win the Golden Boot.
The Super Eagles crashed out of the competition in the group stage after being expected by fans to progress from the group.
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