Super Falcons Set To Play Confluence Queens

The Female National Team of Nigeria, Super Falcons, are set to slug it out with Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) side, Confluence Queens of Lokoja as preparatory for the All Africa Games Qualifier against Mali.

The match is slated for the 14^th of March, and it will be the third friendly match for Falcons as test matches towards upcoming qualifier matches.

The venue for the match is the FIFA Goal Project center at the Abuja National Stadium and will kick off by 3pm on Saturday, 14 March 2015..

Nigeria Move Up One Spot In FIFA Rankings

The National Team of Nigeria, Super Eagles, have hopped up to 41^st in the latest FIFA World rankings that were released on Thursday.

Amongst all negatives about the team surrounding the contract talks of Keshi versus Amaju Pinnick, Nigerians can finally get a positive news on the Super Eagles that polled 701 points to move up one place from 42 to 41 in the world and they are 7^th in Africa according to the rankings.

Nigeria is set to play Bolivia and South Africa later on this month and winning those matches might see the Super Eagles move higher on the FIFA rankings.

Algeria are the highest ranked team in Africa at 18^th. Other countries above Nigeria are Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal and Cape Verde.

Sand Eagles Qualify For African Beach Soccer Championship

Nigeria has qualified for the 2015 African Beach Soccer Championship finals after Libya announced its withdrawal from the qualifying competition.

Libya’s withdrawal has been communicated to the Nigeria Football Federation, meaning the 2007 and 2009 champions go through to the finals scheduled for Seychelles April 14-19.

The Supersand Eagles returned to the country on Monday following a third place finish at the Power Horse Invitational Tournament in Durban, South Africa, and were set to continue training in Lagos ahead of the first leg of the qualifying fixture against Libya which was to be played this weekend.

Coach Audu Adamu Ejo said: “We would have loved to use the fixture against Libya as part of our preparation for the African Beach Soccer Championship. However, there is nothing we can do other than to now start our final camping for the championship proper.

   Credit: Rabark Bakare

Ujah Apologises For Goal Celebration

Cologne striker Anthony Ujah has been compelled to give a public apology to the club mascot after manhandling the goat during his goal celebrations in the side's 4-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

 

Ujah, after putting his side 4-1 up, charged to the goat named Hennes and for the third time in three years tried to mount the poor goat by grabbing it by the horn.

 

After the game he took to Instagram to apologise to the club legend, as it appears it didn't take too lightly being manhandled.

 

This isn't the first time that Hennes has had a run in with Ujah, with the Nigerian striker taking the pair's "friendship" a little too far after scoring against Paderborn in 2013 and again after scoring against Hertha Berlin the following year.

 

Indeed, the former incident saw Ujah alarm Hennes to such an extent that he later felt compelled to visit his hairy little buddy in person at his stables with a peace offering of fresh carrots.

   Source

CAF Shifts Pillars, Tetouan Champions League Match By A Week.

The CAF Champions League match between Nigerian champions, Kano Pillars and Moghreb Tetouan of Morocco has been shifted by a week the Confederation African Football (CAF) has stated. 

The round of 32 first leg billed for Morocco will now hold a week after the original date, March 14, 2015. The decision by CAF to shift the date of the match by a week was consented to by the Moroccan Football Federation and Moghreb Tetouan. 

The Nigerian champions, Kano Pillars were to start their title defense in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) in Owerri against Heartland FC but were attacked in their road trip to Owerri by armed robbers near Lokoja. Five players, Gambo Muhammed, Eneji Otekpa, Adamu Murtala, Reuben Ogbonnaya and Ubong Ekpai sustained various degree of injury after the incident.

The Nigerian champions announced through its Twitter account late on Monday night that CAF has informed them that their Champions League match against Moroccan club, Moghreb Tetouan has been shifted by a week. 

The tweet read: "CAF committee has postponed our first leg match against MA Tetouan of Morocco by one week".

“The March 14th game is now scheduled to be played on 20, 21 or 22 of March. The match has been postponed due to the attack on the team."

   Source

Support Nigerian Basketball: An Inspirational Story

I’d planned to start the day with something different but this article on Bleacher Report just won my heart over.

So this 16 year old boy wrote to all 30 teams on the NBA telling them he wants a team he can root for in the league and asking each club to give him reasons why he should choose them. In each of the letter, he mentioned a few things about the club and drew the club logo at the bottom of the letter. Read Here

Sadly, only one team replied – Minnesota Timberwolves – and they gave him 10 reasons why he should choose them, together with an autographed ball. As expected, Minnesota Timberwolves got another die-hard fan.

Three words - THIS IS SWEET!!!

The things I find impressive are:

1. The amount of knowledge the boy has about all the teams in the NBA.

2. The love people have for basketball. The young man is a basketball die-hard fan at 16. He surely didn’t get there overnight.

3. The importance that some clubs attach to fan base and fan management.

This is where I hope we will be in the future. I hope the Nigerian clubs share this big dream of mine.

Written by @BBallNaija

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We have lots of people with the love for Basketball in Nigeria but they have no means to feed their passion. Not enough websites/blogs updating the fans on basketball (even on other sports besides football). That's just one, I know you know the rest.

The sports governing bodies in the country spend too much time and money on football, which is not an issue since Nigeria was colonized by Britain and their number one sport is Football which makes it ours too (or so I think).

Basketball was invented in America. Nigerians and Nigeria will (by all means) love to be like the number one nation in the world. Our entertainment industry and politics have their signature all over them.

America is one of the world power even at our beloved football. So why do we reject their sports (Yes, SPORTS. Most Nigerians do not like American Football and Baseball also)

Well, back to basketball. Nigerians are built to play the hoops sports. We have lots of Nigerians plying their trade in the NBA and many have climbed the ladder to the apex. Akeem Olajuwon is one of the greatest Basketball player of all time. We also have Jamal Olasewere. Just to mention a minute few.

According to Wikipedia, Nigeria has produced the most NBA players of any African nation with 13 players. Check out the list here.

Nigerians, let's increase our chances of winning medals at the Olympics. Let's increase our chances of winning trophies at the continental and world level. We'll also make the whole world take the country more serious in the world of sports.

Our national basketball team, D'Tigers, are doing a great job. Nigeria is ranked 24th in the present FIBA World ranking. Imagine if Nigeria Basketball can have half the follower-ship our football has (meanwhile, we are ranked 42nd in the FIFA World ranking). Do the math! We are better off loving basketball more.

Pick a basketball team in Nigeria to support today.


SAVANNAH CONFERENCE

• Mark Mentors (Abuja)
• Bauchi Nets B.C.(Bauchi)
• Kano Pillars (basketball)(Kano)
• Immigrations (Minna)
• Plateau Peaks (Jos)
• Gombe Bulls (Gombe)
• FCT Rocks (Abuja)
• Kada Stars (Kaduna)

ATLANTIC CONFERENCE

• Oluyole Warriors (Ibadan)
• Dodan Warriors (Lagos)
• Delta Force (Delta)
• Lagos Islanders (Lagos)
• Nigeria Customs (Lagos)
• Union Bank Basketball Club
• Police Baton (Lagos)
• Kwara Falcons (Kwara)

GOMBE BULLS AND ITS JOURNEY TO STARDOM

Gombe Bulls Basket Ball team came into being in 1985 under the executive leadership of late senator Jalo Waziri of blessed memory (the then Wazirin Gombe) as the team ‘s grand patron with late Alhaji Yuguda Umar Danburam as its chairman and the technical leadership of a Cameroonian Basketball international late Muhammad Sani who was then a staff with the Bauchi state sports council posted to Gombe local government to promote Basket Ball game across primary and secondary schools.

The first inter primary schools Basket Ball competition was held at Teachers College Gombe with Gandu primary school as the pioneer champions which attracted the school a befitting basket ball court by the then Alhaji Maigari Yuguda led Gombe local government council.

Few years later the game kept improving from strength to strength through series of grass root to local basket ball competitions which provided an avenue for talents discovery of ex internationals that include the likes of Muhammad Abba a.k.a Jaggu, Musa Adamu who currently manages a senior and reputable Basket ball team in Ivory Coast as well as the one and only Icon whose names were written in gold as per as Basket Ball game is concern in Gombe state, Ibrahim Gimba alias Dogo Basket.

Having emerged champions in the Bauchi state inter local government basket ball competition in 1990, Gombe Bulls basket ball team from Gombe local government represented the then Bauchi state in the national division 2 basket ball team competition in Ibadan and won 3rd position which earned the team automatic promotion to 1st division (the then apex league status in Basket ball competition in Nigeria).

Came the subsequent year, Gombe local government could not fund the operational demands of the 1st division league, the development that paved way for the then Bauchi state government to take over the status to its darling team in the state capital, Bauchi nets basket ball team, the position the club currently still enjoys.

In the year 1991/92, The financially handicapped Gombe Bulls helplessly re competed in the 2nd division Basket Ball league in Akure and Lagos respectively under the technical supervision of late Coach Muhammad Sani and kept performing averagely, this financially challenging moment left the helpless Gombe Bulls with no option than to pay total concentration on the local competitions and talents hunt for some years which eventually led to the discoveries of more committed players that involved the likes of Kawu Abdulkadir, Abdulrahman Muhammad and Leo Kingsley among others.

1n 1996, prior to the creation of an additional state, Bauchi state hosted the national Basket Ball division 2 league and Gombe Bulls took advantage of the competition’s venue proximity to emerge 2nd position as runners up in favor of their Adamawa state counterparts which earned them another automatic elevation ticket to 1st division league.

Immediately Gombe state was created in December 1996, Gombe Bulls in 1997 represented the infant Gombe state in the division 1 first phase basket ball competition in Akure to emerge the overall winners and eventually ended up 2nd position in the second phase of the competition in Kano which earned the club an automatic promotion to the premiership league in the Nigeria Basket Ball league.

Gombe Bulls brilliant performance in the nation’s basket ball apex competition lasted only to year 2000 following a penalty measure imposed on the club by the Basket Ball league regulatory body (Nigeria Basket Ball Federation) for late league registration which prevented the team from taking part in that year’s premier league competition and resulted the relegation of the club down to 1st division league.

Since 2001, The morale and zeal for basket ball stakeholders in Gombe for nearly a decade became demoralized as a result of the neglect the game suffered by the previous governments giving priorities to other sporting games, football precisely.

In 2011, with the establishment of the Gombe state sports Commission by Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo administration, Basket Basket ball revival process begun by the pioneer executive chairman of the Commission Malam Faruk Yarma through consultation and mobilization of stakeholders in the Basket ball game across the state and beyond which eventually augured the desired result of making the comatose Gombe Bulls an active body again.

Having successfully rebuilt the club by the Commission, Gombe Bulls took part and won the 2012 Basket Ball north east zonal competition and subsequently proceeded to represent the region at national level.

In 2012, the Gombe state sports Commission equally provided an enabling environment for the game to thrive and funded Gombe Bulls to take part in the 2nd division league in Abuja and the team’s commitment earned the club a 3rd position which elevated the jewels to play a 1st division league.

In 2013, Gombe state played a host to the 1st division Basket ball league and Gombe Bulls did not leave a single stone unturned in taking advantage of the home crowd to emerge the champions of the competition to advance to premiership.

In 2014, The Commission recruited professional players and also deployed the services of some living legends and ex internationals that made a landmark in their playing days with the club to manage its technical operation which include Abdulrahman Muhammad , Ibrahim Gimba and Kawu Abdulkadir.

These officials led the team and made it among the best four in the savannah conference, then played their four counterparts from Atlantic conference, lost the semi finals and the third place, then eventually emerged fourth in country.

The stage is now set for the 2015 Basket ball premier league and newly recruited players in the club expressed optimism to aspire for a continental ticket.

Apparently, reflecting the rise and falls of the team from the onset to its present status coupled with updates that will henceforth be coming your way on Gombe Bulls' facebook group may ginger basket ball fans across the state and even beyond to keep their fingers crossed by following the club’s day today unfolding events and in turn contribute their quota.

Thank you.

Written by Arzoo Gombe, Media Officer, Gombe Bulls Basket Ball Team.