Good morning, everyone.
I guess Nnanna, Chinatu and our new signing, Dapzy, have been rolling out articles so consistently that I really haven’t had any urgency to write one myself. They’ve all done a fantastic job. Still, I promised myself I’d write at least once a week. I have to make sure the Enyimba juice is still flowing. Besides, I have a few thoughts to share, and this one goes beyond Enyimba.
Yesterday, I saw on X that league champions Rangers have secured Ikenne as their home ground for this season’s CAF Champions League campaign. First, congratulations to Rangers. And well done to the management of Remo Stars for opening their doors. The fans in Ikenne will get the rare privilege of watching Champions League football live, and that’s something worth applauding.
But what about the Rangers supporters? The people who filled the Cathedral all season, travelled around the country, argued online, defended their club through thick and thin and eventually celebrated winning the league. What exactly do they get? Nothing. Their reward is watching their club play “home” matches hundreds of kilometres away from home.
And then we expect Rangers to make a serious run in the Champions League?
Maybe Fidelis Ilechukwu still has another miracle tucked away somewhere. Football has surprised us before. But let’s be honest with ourselves. Home advantage isn’t just about the pitch. It’s about familiarity, atmosphere, confidence and thousands of supporters dragging their team over the line. Take all that away and you’ve already handed your opponents a psychological advantage before the game even starts.
Not that many people expect anything different from Nigerian clubs these days anyway. A club that needed no small help from its godfather within the league structure to become champions is hardly entering Africa looking like a continental heavyweight. Whoever draws Rangers simply has to defend well in Ikenne, settle for a draw and fancy their chances back home. As they say in America, easy peasy.
For years, I’ve struggled to understand why no Nigerian club has managed to match what Enyimba achieved on the continent. In fact, look across Africa. The clubs that consistently challenge for the Champions League aren’t lucky clubs. They’re clubs that plan. They build for the future. They recruit with purpose. They improve their infrastructure. Their ambition doesn’t end with qualifying for Africa. Their ambition is to conquer Africa.
Unfortunately, that’s where Nigerian football gets it wrong.
For many of our football administrators, qualifying for continental football is the destination, not the starting point. Once the ticket is secured, the real priorities become making appearances, travelling around the continent, collecting allowances and bonuses, taking photographs and coming back home to tell everyone they represented Nigeria.
That’s all they care about.
Winning the Champions League? Building clubs capable of dominating Africa? Improving Nigeria’s reputation on the continent? Those conversations are still a long way off.
Let’s start with the basics. Have our administrators consistently paid players’ salaries and match bonuses as and when due? Have they built sustainable revenue streams that allow clubs to survive without waiting for monthly government handouts? Have they shown that Nigerian clubs can function as proper football businesses instead of government departments?
We’re asking people who haven’t mastered the fundamentals to compete with clubs that have spent decades building winning structures. That’s why every year we celebrate qualification while countries like Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia talk about winning trophies.
The road is far.
Very far.
EnyimbaEnyi
