Marked for Junior Aimufua
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Kwara United out
Out, 1‑2 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Kwara United's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kwara United has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Olaniyi Saheed has come up in conversations Kwara United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Kwara United asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Uche Jaguar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Olaniyi Saheed 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
Jerry Alex beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Abdulraheem Shola ran the middle of the pitch — 7.07
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.07, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑4 to Rangers International, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kwara United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Akeem Akanni has agreed terms with Rivers United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Uche Jaguar 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Kwara United asked and Universidad Catolica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Junior Aimufua, and the manager let it.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Kwara United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Umar Ndidi to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Suraj Ayeleso and Kwara United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Junior Aimufua and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Uche Jaguar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Aug 2026
The clock runs on Suraj Ayeleso's contract
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Match1 Aug 2026
It needed Yusuf Ayinde to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Kano Pillars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Umar Ndidi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.