Record making manager, Ndubuisi Emmanuel Egbo, will possibly turn Albania to destination point for Nigerian footballers. He became the first from this part of the world to win the league in Europe and also qualify a club for the UEFA Champions League. KF [Klubi i Futbollit] Tirana are trending at the moment.
There are four Africans in the team presently. Michael Ngoo is from Cameroon. There is the Ghanaian, Winful Cobbinah ably followed by Lancinet Sidibe from Mali and Kenya’s Ismael Dunga. There are two South Americans, Elton Cale from Brazilian and the Argentinian, Augustin Torassa. Expectations are that Egbo will go to the market to fortify his squad for the 2020/2021 season.
Ngoo has Nigerian blood. His grandfather hailed from Cameroun but lived in Ibadan. Ngoo is a striker and his father was born in Nigeria, that partly explains why the parents named the boy Ayodeji. The other reason is that his mother is a Nigerian. The player was born in England and is eligible to play for both the Eagles and Three Lions. He played for the England Under -19 and Under-20 teams.
Many Nigerians may have forgotten that England eliminated the Flying Eagles from the Colombia 2011 FIFA Under -20 Championships. Ngoo played against John Obu’s Flying Eagles who lost that quarter finals game 1-0 at Estadio Centenario, Armenia. Another Nigerian, Recce Wabara, also played against the Flying Eagles in the same duel. He was injured in the 19th minute and pulled out. Wabara’s dad, Lawrence, had played for the Red Devils before independence.
Egbo deserves all the attention. Few Nigerian goalkeepers have been able to advance beyond training goalies, to manage teams. Carl ‘Gentleman’ O’Dwyer was Sharks coach when he died in a road accident in 1980 during their first WAFU campaign. Emmanuel Omiunu tried to keep the Police Machine going. Joe Erico came with Jogo Bonito in the 1980s and did well with Julius Berger. He took Iwuanyanwu National to the second Round of the CAF Champions League [then called the Cup of Champion Clubs] in 1989. It was a poor result, though.
The UEFA Champions League means so much to Nigerians. The first goal of the competition was scored by Daniel Amokachi in 1992 playing for Club Brugges , Belgium against CSKA Moscow. Nwankwo Kanu and Finidi George lifted the trophy with Ajax in 1996 long before Mikel Obi achieved same feat with Chelsea. No one is giving Egbo a tall order. The best we expect from him is a place beyond the second round. Albania is not a strong name in European soccer.
It was a quiet start for the KF Tirana man in Nigeria. He joined Vasco da Gama, Enugu in 1993. The team played in the Second division of the professional league and was as good as Enyimba who eventually won the trophy. Lobi, Wikki Tourists and Gombe United were also in that division.
Coach Godfrey Esu had quite a bunch of experienced players. Mutairu Momodu, Johnny Anyagwa,, Patrick Ovie,, Michael McCarthy, and Risky Saleh were good enough for any top flight squad. Others were Fani Omiunu, Patrick Emordi, Igho Piopio, Ambrose Duru, Anthony Donwa and Skipper Christopher Ucheagwu. There was an international player, Benjamin Seedee from Liberia.
Sorry, there was another Liberian superstar, goalkeeper Momo Blamoh. He was one of the best in that country, sharing the position in the national team with Pewu Bestman. Blamoh was at the Bauchi ’90 ECOWAS Games with the Lone Star. The Civil War scared many of them and they actually told me they wanted to relocate to Nigeria. I think either Joe Nagbe or Alex Theo was interested in Iwuanyanwu. Kai Jerboh was playing in France then. Eventually Kelvin Sebwe moved to Belgium, Jonathan Sogbie [Boye Charles] flew to Switzerland ,Keith Babe Jinlack got lucky with the Naze millionaires.
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However, the main attraction in Vasco was goalkeeper Victor Oko. The club coughed out 30’000 naira to buy him from BCC Lions. That was the highest fee paid by the telecommunications team. Oko deserved it though. He actually moved from Vasco da Gama to Insurance. The Benin attraction came after the keeper graduated from the University of Benin.
Egbo ,therefore, had to contend with Oko who was Rangers’ number one in 1990 and Liberian international, Momo Blamoh. After Vasco, he shifted to Lagos and got into the NEPA team. From NEPA, Julius Berger came calling. Things began to happen. Egbo won the 1995/ 1996 Premier League with the Bridge Boys but left at the end of the season to join Egyptian Club, Al Masry.
Playing in Egypt also attracted more continental attention. Egbo joined South Africa’s Moroka Swallows. It was after the trip down South that he thought Europe and ended up in Abania with Tirana. Back to Al Masry the goalie went then returned to Albania to team up with Bilis. As time faded, the Nigerian turned to coaching goalkeepers. From Bilis, Egbo joined KF Tirana and that was his job until l2019 when he was upgraded to Manager of the team. In his first season, Egbo has made history.
This is a boost. I remember seeing Egbo as reserve goalkeeper to Willy Opara when the Super Eagles were forced to a 1-1 draw by Etalons of Burkina Faso in in Ouagadougou in 1998. Manager Thys Libregt, was trying to build a new team. Eddy Dombraye and Uche Nwobbi were fielded. Mutiu Adepoju was captain and you had experienced players like Garba Lawal and Celestine Babayaro. Jero Shakpoke flew back to Italy immediately after the match.
Egbo did not look back. He continued to feature in the plans of subsequent coaches and made about 12 appearances as a Super Eagle. He was part of the Ghana /Nigeria 2000 Nations Cup squad with Ike Shorunmu and Murphy Akanji. Egbo also made the Mali 2002 Nations Cup team with the same goalkeepers. Opara is now goalkeeper coach of Orlando Pirates, South Africa and his son is also a top flight goalie in that country.
KF Tirana are the best club in Albania. I see doors opening for Nigerians. It is better to play in Europe than wasting talent in such lowly Asian nations as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.
It is also an opportunity for Egbo to sell himself to the world. Experience from the UEFA Champions League will give him advantage over some of the wandering expatriate coaches in Africa who have no respect in their continent but are treated like kings by some dull local officials. This is something to cheer. Someday, an indigenous coach will be asked to come and take over from the present absentee manager.
Nigerians should feel great that in the coming UEFA Champions League season, there will be a coach Ndubuisi Egbo leading an Albanian team against maybe Liverpool or Real Madrid. And his assistant will be Erion Xhana, from Europe, with an Albanian Goalkeeping Trainer, Ilion Lika.