Marked for Malik Afoke
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 Apr 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 23. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Apr 2028
The small margins put Ikorodu City out
Out, 0‑0 to El-Kanemi Warriors, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Michael Atata decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ikorodu City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match22 Apr 2028
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad24 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ikorodu City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Idoko, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Ikorodu City did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market23 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match21 Aug 2027
No end in sight to Ikorodu City's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ikorodu City has to find a result from somewhere.
Market23 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ikorodu City is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Ogbu Ogechukwu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match21 Aug 2027
Rivers United left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Malik Afoke and Ikorodu City agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch23 Aug 2027
“I watch every Ikorodu City game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Djoliba runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Market23 Aug 2027
Niger Tornadoes are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Ikorodu City will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 37. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match21 Apr 2027
Enyimba go through and Ikorodu City go home, 0‑0 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad26 Apr 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Michael Atata: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Market26 Apr 2027
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ikorodu City, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Malik Afoke: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ikorodu City have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
A defender's afternoon for Kelechi Onwe
Defensive actions: 26. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Shodeinde Moses was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Mar 2027
Uche Jaguar hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ikorodu City can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ikorodu City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Marked 8.81 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph Arumala, and the manager let it.
Market1 Mar 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Ikorodu City, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Jan 2027
5 matches without a win for Ikorodu City
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ikorodu City are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ikorodu City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ogbu Ogechukwu
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match30 Jan 2027
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emmanuel Mathias trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The captaincy has been taken off Aliu Salawudeen. Ikorodu City will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 5.50, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 5.66, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.