Nigeria’s representative in this year’s CAF Champions League Enyimba FC of Aba were yesterday beaten 3-4 by Libyan side Al Ahly Benghazi, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Enyimba lost the game despite taking an early lead but will be hoping for a turnaround in results when they play the return leg of the game in Aba.
One thing that was noticed during the course of the game was the absence of the coach of the Nigerian team Finidi George from the technical bench of Enyimba. His assistant Olarewaju Yema was also not on the bench.
The bench of the Nigerian team was led by the goalkeeper trainer of the Nigerian champions. A situation which we gathered was taken by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) owing to a disparity in the coaching license of the technical crew of the Nigerians.
Finidi holds a UEFA A coaching license while his assistant Yema holds a UEFA C license but they were both informed that they won’t be on the bench because they don’t have a CAF coaching license. Even though their license is of a higher pedigree than that of the African football body.
CAF officials were said to have communicated the decision to the Nigerians during the pre-match meeting. A decision that came as a shock considering the fact that Finidi used the same license for last year’s CAF tournament without any issue.
We sought to know what the management of the team did in the light of the importance of the coaches on the bench, especially for the second leg and we were informed that the chairman of the team Kanu Nwankwo didn’t even travel with the team for the game.
Appointed as the new chairman by the newly elected governor of the state Alex Otti, Kanu from what we gathered hasn’t met with the players and the management crew since his appointment. Leaving everything about the running of the club in the hands of his director of football Ifeanyi Ekwueme.
Inexperienced in the politics of African football, Ekwueme was hapless when he was informed of the decision by CAF and with little idea on how to file a protest, the team will likely still be without both coaches for the return leg.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
