In the past three seasons, Abia Warriors have grown to become one of the most successful clubs in the Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL). The Umuahia-based club, which in the past played second fiddle to their more famous neighbours, Enyimba of Aba, have in three years played at the highest level of the game, finishing second in the President Federation Cup (formerly Challenge Cup) in the 2023/24 season and capping it with a foray into the continent with the CAF Confederation Cup.
Although the club was eliminated in the first round of the CAF Confederation Cup, managers of the team say that the African experience has played a significant part in equipping Abia Warriors properly for their upward move in the continent’s football.
Currently sitting on top of the NPFL table after 11 weeks, managers of the club believe the impressive performance in the league is just part of the bigger project of becoming one of the best clubs in Africa.
Abia Warriors Chairman, John Obuh, told The Guardian yesterday that the club’s current position on the league table is the result of a carefully planned programme aimed at positioning the club as a force in African football.
Obuh, a former national team coach, said that the management team was carefully selected by the Abia State government to harness the enormous talent into a competitive side capable of standing against any team in the continent.
He said, “Governor Alex Otti has been so supportive in everything we do with the help of the commissioner for sports. Football is a capital-intensive project, but we are lucky that everywhere we take our demands, they always listen, eager to give us the support that we require.”
“As regards the coaching crew, I have been fortunate enough to have hired somebody who listens and is very hard-working. That is the head coach, Imama Amapakabo, who is supported by somebody as experienced as Ike Shorunmu, a former national team goalkeeper.”
Obuh said that the management team is under no illusion that getting to the top of African football would be easy, hence they have imbibed the lessons of their foray into the continent in building a competitive team.
On the team’s ambition this season, the former Flying Eagles coach said that they will continue to work hard to return to the continent, adding that being top of the NPFL table is a sign that they can achieve great things if they stay focused and work hard.
“As they say, the league is a marathon, so we are taking it step by step to ensure that we maintain the speed by which we are going.
“We are working very hard, making sure that everything about the players is well taken care of, especially their welfare. We don’t hold back on whatever will actually make them happy.
“We try as much as possible to please them; as soon as they are able to get a victory, they get paid their match bonus. Their salaries are being paid on schedule. So, I don’t see why we won’t do well at the end of the season.”
On the failure to move beyond the first round of the CAF Confederation Cup, Obuh said that inexperience played a part in their failure. He said: “You know, it’s always good to have an idea, experience of something. Now we have an idea of what it takes to play at that level of football.
“We recruited many experienced players for the campaign, but we didn’t have the time to blend them together before we played on the continent. But we have regrouped, which is evident in our performance in the league.
“If you watched the first game we played in the CAF Confederation Cup, we lost a lot of chances because of anxiety. If we had converted all of our chances in the first leg in Uyo, maybe what happened wouldn’t have happened. But everybody has learnt their lessons.
“When we have another opportunity, we’ll get it better than the way it went the first time.”
