Highs and Lows of Nigerian sports in 2024

From continental football glory to Paralympic records, Nigerian sports witnessed dramatic peaks and valleys in 2024, with athletes breaking records and setting new benchmarks even as some performances fell short of expectations, writes ABIODUN ADEWALE and PETER AKINBO

HIGHS

King Lookman rules African football

When Ademola Lookman was crowned the 2024 CAF African Footballer of The Year in Marrakech, Morocco, it wasn’t just another award ceremony – it was the culmination of a meteoric rise that saw the 27-year-old etch his name alongside Nigeria’s football greats.

The Atalanta forward’s triumph made him the seventh Nigerian to win the prestigious award, following Victor Osimhen’s victory in 2023. His remarkable year included three goals and two assists as Nigeria reached their eighth Africa Cup of Nations final in February, while his historic hat-trick secured the UEFA Europa League for Atalanta against Bayer Leverkusen in May – becoming the first African to score a treble in a major European final.

For his Europa League final exploits, the 26-year-old earned a rare 10 rating from L’Equipe – only the 18th handed out by the French publication, a rating Portuguese legend and five-time Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo has never won. His exploits have carried into the ongoing 2024/25 season, where he continues to inspire Atalanta, scoring 12 goals and providing five assists across all competitions.

Nnadozie’s back-to-back triumphs

Super Falcons goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie retained her CAF Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year crown in 2024, solidifying her reputation as one of the finest shot-stoppers in world football. The Paris FC star’s phenomenal year saw her deliver consistent, match-winning performances for both club and country.

Nnadozie played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s impressive campaign at the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and was instrumental in Paris FC’s historic run in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, where her heroics in penalty shootouts earned global acclaim.

Victories in Europe

Nigerian footballers dominated European football in 2024, with unprecedented success across multiple leagues. Victor Boniface and Nathan Tella played pivotal roles in Bayer Leverkusen’s historic 2023/24 season, as the German club’s 120-year wait for a Bundesliga title ended in spectacular fashion with an unbeaten league campaign and DFB Pokal victory for their first domestic double.

Boniface’s impact was immediate and decisive following his summer arrival. Despite a four-month injury layoff, the striker’s 14 goals and eight assists in 23 Bundesliga appearances helped propel Leverkusen to their maiden league title. His overall contribution of 21 goals and 10 assists across all competitions earned him the Bundesliga Rookie of The Season award.

In Greece, William Troost-Ekong, fresh from his AFCON MVP heroics, returned from injury to help PAOK clinch the Greek Super League title. Peter Olayinka secured a domestic double with Red Star Belgrade, scoring twice in a 4-1 win over Cukaricki to seal their 35th Serbian League title before winning the Serbian Cup with a 2-1 victory over Vojvodina.

Raphael Onyedika was instrumental in Club Brugge’s Belgian League triumph, making 29 appearances and scoring three crucial goals, including a brace against Anderlecht in a 3-1 playoff victory that set them on course for their 19th title. They clinched the championship with 50 points, just one ahead of Royal Union SG.

In England, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho powered Leicester City to a record eighth Championship title. Ndidi contributed five goals and five assists, while Iheanacho added five goals despite limited playing time. Former Nigeria youth international Abdul Ajagun also tasted success, winning the Jordanian League with Al-Hussein Sports Club.

In women’s football, Christy Ucheibe achieved an unprecedented quadruple with Benfica, winning the Portuguese league (Liga BPI), Taca de Portugal Feminina, Taca de Liga Feminina, and the Super Taca de Portugal Feminina.

Eagles’ AFCON journey

Nigeria’s path to the 2023 AFCON final showcased their resilience and tactical evolution. After a shaky 1-1 draw against Equatorial Guinea, the Super Eagles found their rhythm with 1-0 victories over Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau in the group stage.

The knockout stages saw them eliminate Cameroon with Ademola Lookman scoring twice in a 2-0 victory. A disciplined 1-0 win over Angola followed in the quarter-finals before a dramatic penalty shootout victory over South Africa sent them to the final.

William Troost-Ekong’s goal against Ivory Coast in the final wasn’t enough as the hosts claimed a 2-1 victory, but the Eagles’ campaign, which saw them concede just three goals in seven matches, highlighted their defensive solidity and showed a spark of things to come under the right tutelage.

 Oshoba makes history

Elizabeth Oshoba’s rise from humble beginnings in Tigbo-Ilu, Ogun State, to becoming Nigeria’s first female boxing world champion is nothing short of extraordinary. Her dedication paid off spectacularly in 2024, claiming the IBO female super-featherweight title with a masterful unanimous decision victory over Italy’s Martina Righi in November 2023.

Her January performance truly announced her arrival on the world stage. Facing Italian Michela Braga for the WBC silver featherweight championship at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen, Oshoba dominated from the opening bell. After dropping Braga in the eighth round, she delivered a knockout blow in the tenth round that made history – securing her place as Nigeria’s first-ever female world title-holder.

The victory was even more impressive given that it came just months after turning professional. Her meteoric rise included two knockout victories in Nigeria before heading to the United Kingdom, where she quickly racked up three victories, including a first-round TKO in her debut.

 Cricket Queens

Nigeria’s Under-19 women’s cricket team secured Africa’s sole ticket to the 2025 ICC U-19 Women’s World Cup in Malaysia after an unbeaten run through the qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda, marking only the second time Nigeria will be participating in any cricket World Cup.

The team’s journey included a four-wicket victory over Tanzania, a one-wicket triumph against Zimbabwe, and an overwhelming 86-run win over Malawi to top Group B. In the semi-final, they defeated hosts Rwanda by 62 runs before being declared winners when their final rematch with Zimbabwe was interrupted by rain.

Captain Lucky Piety will lead the unchanged squad from the qualifiers, including standout performers Shola Adekunle, Peculiar Agboya, and Anointed Aikigbe, with Kenyan coach Sarah Bakhita at the helm.

 D’Tigress’s Olympic success

Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, wrote their names in the history books at the Paris Olympics by becoming the first African basketball team to reach the quarter-finals. Their historic run included a stunning victory over Australia in their opening game, setting the tone for a memorable tournament.

Under the guidance of coach Rena Wakama, who was later named the Best Female Basketball Coach at the Games, the team’s achievement was even more remarkable considering they had lost to the USA by 56 points in the qualifiers just months earlier.

Their impressive showing contributed to a significant rise in the FIBA world rankings, with D’Tigress climbing four spots to occupy the eighth position globally while maintaining their status as Africa’s top-ranked team. The team also secured their fourth consecutive AfroBasket title earlier in the year.

 Oluwafemiayo’s Paralympic treble

Folashade Oluwafemiayo’s remarkable performance at the Paris Paralympics wasn’t just about defending her title – it was about making history. The para-powerlifter became the first female para-athlete in history to lift 167kg, breaking her own world record in the process.

With the gold medal already secured at 166kg, the 39-year-old returned for one more attempt, successfully lifting 167kg to improve her world record further. Her dedication to training, even through illness and pain, exemplified the spirit that has made her a multiple world champion.

Her success was part of a broader triumph for Nigeria’s para-powerlifters, who won four medals in total in the French capital. The remarkable success of African competitors was evident in the para-powerlifting medal table, with Egypt finishing third and Nigeria fourth in the overall standings.

Bolaji’s badminton breakthrough

Eighteen-year-old Eniola Bolaji wrote her name into the history books as the first African athlete to win a medal in Para-Badminton at the Paralympics. Her bronze medal victory in the Women’s Singles SL3 category at the Porte de la Chapelle Arena marked a significant milestone for both Nigeria and the continent.

In a testament to her fighting spirit, Bolaji showed remarkable composure throughout the tournament. After falling short in a hard-fought semi-final against China’s Zuxian Xiao, losing 2-0 (16-21, 17-21), she regrouped impressively for the bronze medal match. Facing Ukraine’s Oksana Kozyna, Bolaji produced a masterclass, dominating both sets with scores of 21-9, 21-9.

African Games Success

Nigeria’s second-place finish at the 13th African Games in Ghana, with 120 medals including 47 gold, 33 silver and 40 bronze, highlighted the emergence of a new generation of athletes ready to take over from established stars.

The Games unveiled several promising talents across various sports. Seventeen-year-old Prestina Ochonogor claimed bronze in the women’s long jump with a leap of 6.67m, while competing against established star Ese Brume. Nineteen-year-old Joy Eze dominated the weightlifting competition, claiming three gold medals in her new 71kg category.

In weightlifting, Edidiong Umoafia delivered a masterclass performance by sweeping all three gold medals in the men’s 67kg category. The 21-year-old showcased his strength with a 135kg lift in the snatch and a 165kg lift in the clean & jerk, for a combined total of 300kg. Similarly, 23-year-old Ruth Ayodele dominated her category with three golds, lifting 94kg in snatch, 144kg in clean and jerk for a total of 208kg.

The emergence of stars like 21-year-old Olayinka Olajide in athletics, who claimed medals of every color – gold in the 4x100m relays, silver in the 200m with a personal best of 23.18 seconds, and bronze in the 100m – suggests a bright future for Nigerian sports.

LOWS

Paris Olympics no-show

Tales of woes about Nigerian sports resurfaced after the country’s 88-man contingent to the Paris 2024 Olympics failed to win any medals.  It was the eighth time in the country’s Olympic history, which began in Helsinki in 1952. Like other outings at Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, Mexico 1968, Moscow in 1980, Seoul in 1988, and London 2012, Team Nigeria had 88 athletes across 12 sports at the Paris Olympics but could not secure any medals.

Some of the country’s biggest medal hopefuls failed to shine. Tobi Amusan did not make the final of women’s 100-metre hurdles despite being the world record holder. Ese Brume finished fifth in the women’s long jump, while Blessing Oborududu also ended her contest outside a podium place.

Ofili saga

If not winning any medals at the Olympics was not low enough, Nigeria’s campaign in Paris was rocked by controversies, the biggest of them perhaps was when sprinter Favour Ofili cried out over being omitted from the women’s 100m event despite qualifying. The then Minister of the defunct Ministry of  Sports Development, John Enoh, (now Minister of State for Industry) set up an investigative panel to unravel the cause of Ofili’s omission, among other issues that rocked the country’s N9bn participation in the Games.

The panel faulted Rita Mosindi, the secretary-general of AFN, and Samuel Onikeku, AFN technical director, for negligence and poor judgement, respectively, at different stages of the fiasco.

Doping bans

Another Nigerian controversy at the Paris Olympics was the ban on lightweight boxer Cynthia Ogunsemilore, who was provisionally suspended after she tested positive for a banned substance ahead of her opening fight at the Olympics. Ogunsemilore tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic on WADA’s prohibited list, in an out-of-competition doping control.

Borrowed bicycle?

Perhaps the most misconstrued intentions in 2024 but Nigerian cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, set the country up for dragging at the Olympics when she thanked her German counterparts for coming to her rescue with a bicycle for the kerin and individual sprint events at the Games. The then Minister of Sports Development, Enoh, explained that the German team that provided the bicycle for Ukpeseraye was in partnership with Nigeria and the arrangement was made to prevent her from missing the competition. Regardless of all the explanations, Ukpeseraye’s case highlighted Nigeria’s usual inadequacy at the global stage.

Finidi-Osimhen fiasco

Between May and June 2024, Nigerian football witnessed a chaotic spell after the appointment of ex-international Finidi George as the head coach of the Super Eagles. Finidi’s two-game reign started with a draw against South Africa in a crucial 2026 World Cup qualifier match before losing 2-1 against the Benin Republic. The inquest into the results led to the resignation of Finidi, but he was trailed by unguarded comments on social media by striker Victor Osimhen, who claimed the coach had fingered him as one of the reasons for the loss. Whether the controversy was handled by the Nigeria Football Federation remains a mystery, but everyone had moved on from the issues while the team’s qualification for the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico is hanging by a thread.

Like Anthony Joshua, like Israel Adesanya

From having the ‘Nigerian winning power’, it seems Anthony Joshua is now struggling to fight for his place among boxing heavyweights, no thanks to his knockout in the hands of Daniel Dubois in the fifth round of their IBF heavyweight bout in September. After closing 2023 with three wins and starting 2024 with another against Francis Ngannou, the 34-year-old was floored – for the fourth time in his career – by Dubois, and that defeat diminished the hopes of being in the mix of some of the biggest fights in the upcoming year.

In the MMA, South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis also defeated Israel Adesanya to retain his UFC middleweight title. Adesanya was forced to tap out in submission with his neck locked in a rear-naked choke by Du Plessis in the fourth round of the bout, marking a second consecutive loss of the New Zealand-based fighter.

U-17 AFCON/World Cup misses

Nigeria has won five FIFA U-17 World Cup titles to become the most successful country at that level but has failed to make an impact in the competition since 2017 when they failed to qualify. They will now miss back-to-back editions (2023 and 2025) after their woeful outing at the WAFU B tournament earlier this year.

In a confusing update shared by the NFF, Nigerians and even the Golden Eaglets thought they had qualified for the 2025 U-17 AFCON in Ivory Coast after the NFF reported that the team had qualified by beating Ghana in the third-place match of the WAFU qualifiers for the AFCON, but the football body later announced their 3-2 win over Ghana wasn’t enough to secure them a spot.

Lost glory of facilities

After spending millions of naira on the refurbishment of Moshood Abiola National Stadium and the 52—year—old National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos,  Nigeria still has only one facility which wants to host a CAF game – the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.  With other stadiums scattered across different cities in the country, they merely serve as match venues for different league teams.

Toothless D’Tigers

Nigeria’s men’s basketball team and 2015 AfroBasket champions, the D’Tigers, hit a new low in 2024 when they made a mess of the first three games of their 2025 AfroBasket qualifying campaign in Tunisia. Much of the team’s problems have been administrative since 2023, and they hit another low when lack of funds saw them arrive in Tunisia, the venue of the qualifiers few hours before their first game. They had initially announced their withdrawal from the qualifiers over a lack of funds. Following a late rally, they arrived in Tunisia but lost their first three games of the series against Libya, Uganda and Cape Verde. D’Tigers would need an improved performance when the second phase of the qualifiers commences in February 2025.