Weekly Recap: 13-year-old Nigerian footballer makes his professional debut and 4 other interesting events in Nigerian Sports scene

The just concluded week was a very busy one for the lovers and followers of Nigerian sports as different events were held across the country.

The week started with the return of the Lagos Squash Classics after five years in Lagos, and for the first time in Nigeria's history, we had a Teqball national tour held in Asaba.

In football, a 13-year-old Nigerian footballer makes his professional debut in Nigeria's third-tier league.

Here is the recap of Last week's events in the Nigerian Sports scene;

Pulse Sports reports that 13-year-old Abdullahi Abdulrahman has become the youngest player to feature in the Nationwide League One game between Capital City FC and Supreme Court at the Area 3 Pitch in Abuja.

Abdulrahman is the son of former Flying Eagles team coordinator Mallam Abdulrahman Umar Baba.

Abdullahi is a student at Excellent Secondary School in Zuba and is currently in Junior Secondary School Class 3 (JSS 3).

Teqball, a fast-growing sport in Nigeria, made its national tour debut in Delta State during the week.

Pulse Sports reports that the tour started on May 10th and ended on May 13th at the Stephen Keshi International Stadium in Asaba, with Kwara State dominating the events.

After five years, the Lagos Squash Classics return as Englishmen Curtis Malik and Torrie Malik emerge champions of the men’s and women's events of the 2023 Lagos International Squash Classics.

In Nigeria's third-tier league, Nationwide League One (NLO), two clubs, ABU Workers FC and Ambassador FC, were banned for match-fixing.

ABU workers humiliated their opponents, Ambassador FC, 8-0, which raised a red flag and forced NLO to go into the investigation and find out that the match was fixed.

The NLO banned the players and officials from being involved in any football-related activities for two years and fined each club five hundred thousand Naira.

The Nigeria Rugby Football Federation returned to the international scene after a ban and will be participating in the Rugby Afrique Olympic qualifiers slated for Mauritius on June 24 and 25, 2023.

The Federation also named Scotsman Steve Lewis as the new head coach of the country’s senior national team.

Steve has coached the Black Stallions twice in the past 10 years, in 2012 and 2013. Under his leadership, Nigeria defied all odds to qualify for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In 2016 and 2019, Steve was voted USA Rugby coach of the year.

On Wednesday, NPFL side Enyimba bowed out of the 2023 Federation Cup.

Enyimba and Shooting crashed out through penalty shootouts, while Ikorodu City was thrashed by another NPFL side, Kwara United, in the round of 32.

The Nigeria Women's Football League (NWFL) announced the new date for the Super Six finals that will take place in Asaba between June 9 to 16.