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The Nigeria Football Federation has congratulated Nigeria international midfielder John Mikel Obi for winning the UEFA Champions League title with English Premiership club Chelsea in Munich on Saturday night.
NFF President, Alhaji Aminu Maigari said yesterday that Mikel Obi is a pride to the Nigerian nation, and deserves plaudits from all and sundry not only for his club's victory, but for his personal commitment and high performance in the campaign.
Maigari said: "We are all very proud of Mikel Obi, and we congratulate him for this sweet victory. More gladdening is the fact that he was not a docile member of the team, or a bench-warmer. He was very active and played his part brilliantly in ensuring a magnificent triumph for Chelsea.
"The whole nation should praise the young man. He fought hard and showed dedication all through the campaign and in the process, lifted our country's name high in international football," said Maigari.
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A week after the sudden death of the Vice Chancellor of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Prof Babatunde Sofoluwe, another lecturer from the varsity's department of Creative Art, Chief Bassey, has died.
Bassey, a senior lecturer Faculty of Arts, was said to have died in his office Saturday night after watching the UEFA champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich football clubs.
A top management source, who confirmed the demise to Daily Trust, declined to give further details, saying it would be too early to ascertain the actual cause of the death.
"Except there is a medical report or an official statement from the management, it may be too difficult for me to say precisely whether his death has anything to do with match or otherwise," the source said.
Bassey's profile on the University's website, showed that he has authored and co-authored four books as a Senior Lecturer in the department of Creative Art. Prominent among such books include, Creative Art, Definitions, Material and The beginning, UNILAG in the eye of a visual artist.
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Nigeria have left Chelsea midfielder John Mikel Obi out of their squad for a series of World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers next month.
Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi has called for Mikel to declare his readiness to feature for the team.
Mikel has yet to play for the Super Eagles since Keshi took charge of the side in November, but the coach insisted that the Chelsea ace remains very much part of his plans.
"Mikel is in my plans but we will give other players an opportunity aswell," said Keshi on Thursday.
"We need to give players from the local league a chance. After all, how many knew about such players as Uche Kalu, Ejike Uzoenyi or Godfrey Oboabona before now?"
Austin Ejide, Fengor Ogude, Efe Ambrose, Elderson Echiejile and John Utaka have all been recalled in a group of 11 players based overseas, which also features Wigan Athletic forward Victor Moses.
Nigeria will name another squad of 18 players from the domestic league, who are due to fly out this weekend for a friendly in Peru.
The Super Eagles will host Namibia in a 2014 World Cup qualifier on June 3 in Calabar, before travelling to Malawi as the qualifying series continues the following weekend.
They are also due to host Rwanda in a second-leg qualifier for the 2013 Nations Cup to be hosted by South Africa.
Overseas-based players called up by Nigeria
Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Lille/FRA), Austin Ejide (Petach Tikva/ISR)
Defenders: Joseph Yobo (Fenerbache/TUR), Efe Ambrose (Ashdod/ISR), Elderson
Echiejile (Sporting Braga/POR)
Midfielders: Fengor Ogude (Valrenga/NOR)
Forwards: Ike Uche (Granada/ESP), Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow/RUS), Sone Aluko
(Rangers/SCO), John Utaka (Montpellier/FRA), Victor Moses (Wigan Athletic/ENG)
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Five football fans have won the chance to watch the UEFA Champions League final at the Allianz Arena Stadium in Munich, Germany later in May, courtesy of the sponsors Heineken.
In a draw conducted at the Heineken Champions Planet in Lagos, Adewole Abiodun, Caleb Richards, Patrick Nneaemaka, Fomsi Samuel and Busari Adiktat emerged as the winners.
The ceremony was conducted by the Sales Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Hubert Eze. It featured Nollywood actor, Desmond Elliot, ex-Nigeria international, Victor Ikpeba and the Senior Brand Manager Heineken, Jacqueline van Faassen, all of whom picked the winners one after the other.
All the five lucky consumers on Heineken sponsorship to Munich, Germany to watch Saturday's final match of the UEFA Champions League are sharply divided between Chelsea FC and Bayern Munich.
The England FA Cup champions, Chelsea, will take on former European champions, Bayern Munich at the 75, 000 Allianz Arena which incidentally is the home ground of the Bavarians, to determine the winners of the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League season.
Expectedly, there have been divergent opinions on where the cup will go to. At the end of hostilities on Saturday, of the five lucky football fans that Heineken is sponsoring to Germany to watch the match live, only Adewole Abiodun is throwing his weight behind Chelsea to win the cup they missed in 2008.
Although most of the visitors and consumers that have visited the Heineken Champions Planet over the years have affection for English Premiership clubs but the rivalry among competing teams is always visible and the travelling consumers seem to have toed the same line of partisanship.
Abiodun insisted that he will root for Chelsea all through the duration of the match.
"Honestly am still savouring the excitement of being among the five lucky winners on Heineken sponsorship to the final in Munich and my going there is to support Chelsea, the 'Pride of London' but if it goes the other way round, that is the beauty of football," he said.
However, the only lady in the team to Munich who is a 'die hard' Manchester United fan, Adikat Busari, said she will go all, the way with Bayern Munich since most of her Chelsea friends will not allow her to rest.
"How do you want me to feel if Chelsea win on Saturday? In as much as I wish both teams well but my friends will never let me rest knowing fully well that my team did not win any trophy this season while Chelsea had won the FA Cup, so let them be contented with that," she opined.
The Senior Brand Manager Heineken, Jacqueline van Faassen, noted that the 'friendly' hostility among the travelling consumers is what makes the UEFA Champions League the most glamorous and prestigious club competition in the world.
"The UEFA Champions League over the years has generated millions of followership and one of the main reason is that every passionate football fan will always have something to aspire to even when his or her team is no longer in contention for honours.
"The friendly rivalry is also very visible at the Heineken Champions Planet going by what happened in the out-going season. Many Manchester United fans still follow the competition passionately even after their club had been eliminated in the group stage team," she said.
Since 2007, Heineken premium international lager beer, has consistently sponsored its Nigerian consumers' to the final of the most prestigious club competition, the UEFA Champions League, and this year will be no different as , five lucky winners will enjoy an all expenses paid trip to Munich, Germany.
The lucky five are expected to leave for Munich on Thursday night by KLM to watch Saturday's final.
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