This weekend, continental football returns to Africa. Teams will be vying for the two prestigious trophies in club football on the continent, chasing glory, history, money and bragging rights. We have won the more prestigious of the two, but that was 22 years ago. Some of the big names in world football today were either toddlers or not even born at the time, and that makes it a really long time ago.
A few days ago, I was in a football banter forum when a Manchester United fan tried trolling an Arsenal fan over their lack of a UEFA Champions League trophy. A Barcelona fan joined the conversation and told the Manchester United fan that he was ashamed to talk about winning the competition when it happened over a decade ago, adding that Manchester United should be even more ashamed because their own triumph was approaching two decades ago.
That got me thinking about our dear Enyimba. We still proudly parade our success from over two decades ago. Yes, if you’ve won it, you’ve earned the right to celebrate it, and nobody can take that away from us. Those glory nights, the stars of the day, the shouts of victory and the doggedness of everyone who contributed to that historic success will forever remain part of Enyimba’s story.
But football is a game that demands relevance in the present. Those glory nights are now gradually becoming tales and fables. Only a few people still remember the finer details like the atmosphere, the players, the goals, the celebrations and everything that made those nights special. For a younger generation, they are stories told by older fans or clips dug out from the archives. Yet we still hold on to them like a veteran who once performed great exploits but can no longer hold up a gun. The exploits were real. The glory was real. But the present is asking different questions.
From tomorrow, African teams will begin their quest for continental glory with two big names conspicuously missing. While Al Ahly will miss out on their preferred CAF Champions League, Enyimba is completely absent from the continental scene. What is a CAF Champions League weekend without Al Ahly? And what is a Nigerian continental campaign without Enyimba?
Just like last season, four Nigerian teams will take part in the first preliminary rounds of the CAF competitions. Enugu Rangers will face Sobemap of Benin, Rivers United will take on San Pedro of Côte d’Ivoire, Shooting Stars will welcome CS Sfaxien of Tunisia, while NNL side El-Kanemi Warriors will face União Desportiva Internacional de Bissau, UDIB, from Guinea-Bissau.
Today, we wish all four representatives success. They carry the hopes of Nigerian football into Africa, and hopefully, at least some of them will go far enough to make the country proud, but there was a time when Nigeria hinged its continental hopes on us. Everyone wanted Enyimba to succeed in the continent because they knew we brought pride. Enyimba on the continent meant confidence for Nigerian football stakeholders and a good advertisement for our brand of football. We weren’t merely participating; we were competing. Even when we started falling down the pecking order, we still commanded respect. Even CAF recognised how important Enyimba was to African club football with the invitation to participate in the inaugural edition of the African Football League.
Today, we watch continental football from the sidelines and that hurts but more importantly, it should motivate us.
We don’t simply want to return to the continent so we can update our social media pages with continental fixtures and remind everyone that we once won the Champions League. We want to return and compete. We want to hear the continental anthem again. We want those long journeys, unfamiliar opponents, hostile stadiums and the beautiful chaos that comes with African club football. We want Enyimba to matter again.
You may say I’m building castles in the air or thinking wishfully, but I’ll stand by this: if we return to the continent properly prepared, we will do better than some of the teams currently rated above us. That isn’t arrogance. It is belief built on history, pedigree and what Enyimba has shown before.
But for now, we have a more immediate task. We need to get back on track in the domestic league. We need results, consistency, confidence and, ultimately, a position that takes us back where we belong and the African nights will come again. Hopefully, when they do, Enyimba won’t be watching them on television instead we will be playing.
Enyimba will be Great Again!
Enyimba Enyi!
