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Following the approval by the Nigeria Football Federation for the return of the National Beach Soccer Team, Supersand Eagles, to international competition, the organisers of this year’s Nigeria Beach Soccer League put on a great show at the three-day National Super 4 Finals in Kaduna, which concluded on Saturday.
The final at Murtala Muhammed Square in Nigeria’s northern administrative capital saw Kebbi Beach Soccer Club underline their dominance of the national game by winning their third title in the three-year-old event.
The cup holders and winners of the inaugural final in 2021 lost 2-3 after penalties to Kada Stars of Kaduna but that did not stop them from clinching their third title and pocketing the winners’ prize of N600,000.
The six points they earned in the final enabled them to edge out Anambra Warriors who finished second and went home with N400,000 and Kebbi United who came third and pocketed N300,000. Kada Stars finished fourth and earned N200,000.
Kebbi BSC, a two-time Beach Soccer World Cup participant, also produced the tournament’s MVP, Hassan Abdullahi.
Kebbi United’s Sadiq Umar was named top scorer with 17 goals, while the club’s Umar Aliyu was named the competition’s rising star and Anambra Warriors’ Festus Bashorun was named the best goalkeeper. Kada Stars won the Fair Play trophy.
The final matches were attended by eminent personalities from the beach soccer community including the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Professor Benjamin Kumai Gugong of Kaduna State;
Chairman, NFF Futsal and Beach Soccer Committee, Hon. Nse Essien; Vice Chairman, Alhaji Yusuf Ahmed Fresh; Chairman, NFF Technical and Development Committee, Alhaji Sharif Rabiu Inuwa; Engineer Musa Nimrod, President, Volleyball Federation of Nigeria and President, Kaduna Beach Soccer Association; President, Kaduna State Football Association, Mallam Faisal Abdullahi; Dr. Umar Mohammed; Mr. Abubakar Barde (Secretary of the Committee) and; a couple of NFF Directors.
The NFF delegation had warm words for the organizing team led by African Beach Soccer Association President Mahmoud Hadejia, who together with his team has worked very hard to bring beach soccer back to the forefront after the NFF withdrew the Super Eagles from the international arena following the scandalous results at the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup final in Paraguay.
The attention of the beach soccer community now turns to the Supersand Eagles’ preparations for the 2024 Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Mauritania, with the first leg in Nouakchott on 20 July and the return leg in Nigeria a week later.
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