“The Problem Is Multi-Faceted”
Globally, the strength of any country’s foot- ball league is gauged through the performances of its clubs.
While some leagues make a lot of money, the emphasis on the strength or weakness of leagues is centred around the performance of their clubs.
For example, the five major leagues in Europe – English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 – are known today not only because of how much is injected into them but because of how their teams have been able to acquaint themselves in terms of performances.
Today, so much money is injected and paid to players in emerging domestic leagues like those in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Chinese Super League but the huge monetary rewards inherent in those leagues have not been able to translate into recognitions compared to what is seen in the aforementioned top European leagues.
Coming down to Africa, the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has not been able to attract the required recognition and attention because the league has failed to live above the mediocre level where it could produce a team capable of projecting not only the NPFL but the country as a whole.
The recent poor showing of the trio of Rangers International of Enugu, Remo Stars and El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri in the CAF inter-club championships is a sad reference to how the domestic football or the clubs in the country have deteriorated.
Campaigning in the CAF Champions League as winners of the Nigerian topflight and runners up respectively, both Rangers and Remo Stars promised so much but left without any iota of ovation, leaving in their trails lamentations, with Nigerians once again pondering how the seeming infraction in the league could be remedied.
Highly tipped to go past Sagrada Esperanca of Angola, the reigning Nigerian champions fell flat, losing 3-2 aggregate to the Angolans.
Despite a 1-0 first leg advantage in Uyo, with a promise from the manager, Fidelis Ilechukwu, of getting the Kobe done in Luanda, Rangers capitulated 3-1 in the second leg to exit the tourney 3-2 aggregate.
With the same aggregate score line, Remo Stars were ousted by FAR Rabat. The Sky Blue defeated the Moroccans 2-1 in Ikenne but were trounced 2-0 in Rabat, a result that also ended their campaign
Similarly, El-Kanemi Warriors, which won the AITEO Federations Cup, on the basis of which they campaigned in the second tier CAF Confederations Cup, failed also at the first hurdle to a Benin Republic side, Dadje FC.
They suffered a 2-1 defeat to Dadje FC in Cotonou and thus were eliminate 3-2 aggregate after their initial 1-1 draw against the same team in Ikenne. The development leaves Enyimba as the only Nigerian side on the continent. The significance of Enyimba’s feat of reaching the CAF Confederations Cup group stage cannot be underestimated. Primarily, their progression would definitely and positively affect the NPFL coefficient rating which will likely retain Nigeria’s two slots each for the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup next year.
However, the elimination of Rangers, Remo Stars and El-Kanemi Warriors has shown a yawning challenge waiting for solution as Nigerian clubs have continued to un- derperform in Africa in recent time. The country waited for more than forty years to win the CAF Champions League when Enyimba broke the jinx in 2003 under Coach Kadiri Ikhana and successfully defended the title the following year, then managed by Coach Okey Emordi.
Since then, only Heartland of Owerri had come close to winning the title when they reached the final in 2009 only to miss it after they were aggregately defeated by TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo. As a matter of fact, it has been more than five years since any club in the Nigerian topflight navigated to the group
stage of the CAF Champions League.
While accusing fingers could understandably be pointed at the league with myriads of problems which had defied previous administrations of the NPFL, some Nigerians believe that the country’s topflight has not improved to throw up clubs capable of wrestling the dominance of CAF Champions League from other countries.
Some of those spoken to averred that the league’s irregular calendar, long distance travels and lack of effective professionalism anchored on recruitment and management of players with emphasis on their welfare have continued to dodge the NPFL negatively.
Players of the NPFL have continued to lament over poor welfare. Some times ago, a player of Sunshine Stars, for example, was ejected from his apartment in Akure because he was unable to pay his rents.
Some of the players in NPFL today, SUNDAY INDE- PENDENT, gathered are playing without valid professional contracts, a development that takes away burden of responsibility on the clubs in cases of emergencies.
Cases abound in the past where players of the topflight were abandoned in the events of career-threatening injuries,
with such leading to premature retirements from the game.
However, former international, Friday Ekpo, disagreed with those saying the league is the problem for non-performance in the continent.
While in a chat with SUNDAY INDEPENDENT on what could have been the problem, the AFCON bronze winner at Senegal ‘92 said it was the same league that produced Enyimba which won the title back-to- back, squarely blaming the challenges on the doorstops of various clubs which have failed to adequately prepare to excel in the annual championship.
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“The league is not the problem but our preparations towards CAF Champions League or CAF Confederations Cup are very poor,” he told our correspondent.
“Remember it is the same league that Enyimba is playing; they won the CAF Champions League twice. I think our clubs need intensive preparations. When you finish as the league champion, you already know that you will be playing in the CAF Champions League and the preparations should start immediately.
“Another major challenge here is that our teams lack continuity in their squad man- agement. Because you win the league and will be playing in the continent doesn’t mean you have to change all your players; this is one bad thing our clubs do.
“You just have to effect changes in areas you need to strengthen and not to change almost the entire players.
“As a matter of fact, you are weakening the team by doing that. I know our league is not what it should be; we are getting there but the problem lies with our clubs.
“They should start early preparations, motivate the players and sign for positions of need and I can tell you they will go far,” Ekpo said.
On the coincidental pairing of Nigerian teams against their North African counterparts, the former midfielder said that should also not be a problem, saying the problem is that NPFL club managers have failed to learn from the North Africans.
“We have always been paired with North Africans and they have continued to eliminate us but unfortunately, we haven’t leant anything from them. One cannot say CAF hates us by placing us against them but it’s us Nigerians that have failed to learn how they do what they do,” he said.
While agreeing that the clubs have not had the best of preparations, Oladimeji Lawal, former international and general manager of Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) of Ibadan, said the problem is multi-faceted, however summing them up on finance.
Speaking to SUNDAY INDEPENDENT, the former player said the clubs lack financial strength to effectively compete in the continent.
“My brother it all boils down to finding,” he told our correspondent.
“The clubs need money to retain players. Have you wondered why our players now go to leagues like Mauritania, Tanzania, Benin Republic and all that? It’s because they will earn more and take care of their families.
“Our league is good but there is less funding of clubs and when that is the case, you can hardly prepare well.
“A good example is when Enyimba dominated the continent; Orji Kalu ensured the players got the best of preparations and their welfares were effectively taking care of.
“I cannot even imagine myself playing in Tanzania; which club is there? But I don’t have to blame the players going there? No; they are looking at the exchange. Yes we have other problems but once funding is sorted out, all other things will fall into place,” he said.
The Shooting Stars general manager also blamed the habit of a number of clubs and academies grooming and selling their quality talents for money for the challenge, saying the same also aligned with what he said is the main problem, which is finance, noting that the teams are also looking for money to run their activities. He also said the irregular calendar of NPFL is not also doing any good to the clubs playing in Africa.
“We cannot be off season when other leagues are going on; this has greatly affected our teams.
“If there is one thing the current board (of NPFL) should do effectively which I know they are already doing, it is to align our calendar with the rest of the continent,” he said.
On his own,, a former league player who preferred not to be mentioned said the NPFL isn’t ran properly and that has affected the teams’ performance.
“Let us look inwards. For a team playing in the NPFL, when the players come for training, they change in the pitch like a common school team.
“There is no standard training pitch, no locker rooms, no showers for the players after training and we expect to keep our best players in the league? We are not semi-professional, not to talk of being professional,” he added.
“We cannot expect the best from our players when we are not giving them the best,” Ade- bayo Gbadebo, a coach in Thai- land, said.
“Why should it be said that clubs in Thailand are better organised than Nigerian sides? Matches are not on TV; they pay the players well but in the NPFL, such is not the case. Here, good medical services are almost non-existent.
“Scouts don’t travel all around the world seeking talents like they used to do in the 80s and 90s. Every serious league is online, ready to be viewed by anyone, anywhere in the world. We cannot delude ourselves. We do not have a professional football league, and the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of the administrators. They know what is not right, but they are not willing to change,” Gbadebo said.
