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Odegbami: One Gold, Two Silver Medals At Youth Olympics – a Test Of Our Credibility!

Nigerian athletes just returned from the 4th edition of the World Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. They returned with 3 medals – One Gold and two Silver medals. I join all Nigerians in commending the young athletes as they provide a glimpse into Nigeria’s future in sport. That is how it should be. But then, there is a dark cloud hanging over this relative success. Going to the Olympics is a big deal. When I was very young I never thought that those that went to the Olympic games were human. As far as those of us distant from the reality of sports at a high level in the hinterland of Nigeria, they were ‘gods’. So, even when I went to my first Olympics in 1976, I was in such a daze, a state of disbelief and excitement. It went in a blur – very quickly like a candle in the wind, compounded by the Olympic boycott of the games by most African countries. But that was even for a football player for whom the Olympics were secondary to the FIFA World Cup. You can, ima...

Odegbami: Super Eagles – Start Of a New Era!

The Super Eagles are back. Nigeria’s greatest image makers and international brand ambassadors are back again. This weekend the Super Eagles resume their Africa Cup of Nations 2019 qualifier campaign in the city of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. A new look national team led by Ahmed Musa, Nigeria’s 2018 World Cup hero, will take on the Mediterranean Knights of Libya twice within a space of three days (the second leg match comes up the following Tuesday in Tunisia, where the Libyans now play their international matches as a result of the insecurity in their own country) to determine who, between the two teams would be at AFCON next year. The match gives Nigerians the first real opportunity to see and to determine how good their new national team is in the absence of the two players that defined the team’s strength in the past decade – Mikel Obi and Victor Moses that have both voluntarily retired from international football for their country. So far, no one seems to be missing them in ...

Odegbami: Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia – My Father, My Mentor, My Hero!

In my life, once again, I discovered that everything is connected. That life is like a jigsaw puzzle. I was in Abuja early this week. I was invited to the 2nd Memorial lecture for late Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia held at the University of Abuja. I was the only discussant at the event that had Sen. Chief Jim Nwobodo, former Governor, former Minister, former Senator, and former Chairman of Rangers International Football Club, as Guest Speaker. The topic was: ‘Sports for National Development – the Ogbemudia example’. What an experience it turned out to be for me, another exciting chapter in a new political learning curve. I have now learnt to surrender to the elements. Things around me just don’t happen by accident any more. Everything is a piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is, ultimately, a new Nigeria in the making for me. Attending the lecture added one more piece to the puzzle. Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia was my ‘father’. He loved me as his own biological son. We first me...

Odegbami: FIFA, Football and Civil Courts!

Am I the only one thinking this way? There is something not quite clear about the issue of whether some football matters can be taken to a civil court or not. Nigeria has been threatened several times with a ban because certain stakeholders had taken internal matters within their federation to a civil court. The usual ‘refrain’ by a school of thought has always being that football matters should never be taken to court or else a country’s FA will be banned or sanctioned. Yet, here we are, a third division club in Belgium has taken FIFA to a Belgian civil court, over the rule imposed by FIFA of a ban on third party ownership of players. Plus the decision of a Belgian Appeal court challenging the blanket power of the Court of Sports Arbitration (CAS) (as result of the same matter) to have exclusive jurisdiction over all football matters. The appeal court says such exclusivity is illegitimate. I am waiting anxiously for FIFA’s reaction. Will FIFA ban the Belgium club, or ...

Odegbami: Reminiscences – Alan Hawkes and Lee Evans

Permit me to tell you about two foreigners that played very significant roles in my career in football. I do not expect that many younger people will know, or even remember them. The first is my first contact with a foreign coach. Playing under him took me to the tipping point, that moment, in time and circumstance, that makes the difference between being good and becoming great in an athletic career. Allan Hawkes took me there. He was the White, British-born coach of IICC Shooting Stars FC when I joined the club as a student of the Polytechnic, Ibadan, in 1974. Before I joined ‘ Sooting ’ I was already a rising star in the football circuit of Western Nigeria. I had played for a few small clubs that actually won laurels in that part of the country. I was even shockingly awarded best player of the Ibadan Football Association, IFA, league (the biggest league in Western Nigeria). I had played for NTC Football Club and w...