African Football - Putting in the Extra Effort

Sometimes putting in hard work doesn't always get rewarded, especially in the world of Nigerian football.

Plateau United Feeders and Police Machine FC needed a pair of convincing wins to get promoted to the lowest tier of the Nigeria Nationwide League. Since the definition of "convincing" tends to be open to interpretation at times, the clubs decided to leave no doubt - with 79-0 and 69-0 victories, respectively!

While intially impressive, these victories didn't stand a chance of fooling the Nigerian Football Federation. Both teams scored over 60 goals after the break in the games, leading officials to step in and suspend all four teams involved for suspicion of foul play. Muke Umeh, chariman of the Nigerian Football Federation Organising Committee, called the games "a scandal of epic proportions," stating that the teams are "suspended indefintiely, pending further sanctions."

Reporters later found that news of each respective scoreline was exhanged via mobile phone during the matches, as Plateau United had to score more goals than Police Machine for promotion. Bubayaro (one of the teams defeated) owner Shuaibu-Gara Gombe disowned and disbanded his club in the aftermath, citing embarassment "to Nigeria football and the entire football family all over the world."

Sources:

Warshaw, Andrew. "Inside World Football." 

Channel NewsAsia.