Marked for Salisu Ibrahim
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Risilanu Ismail
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. El-Kanemi Warriors lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Azubuike Casmir 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 targets10 Jul 2028
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Karviná said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match8 Jul 2028
Enyimba left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Salisu Ibrahim was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout10 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of David Damboama
“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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Words at El-Kanemi Warriors training over how hard people work
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Emmanuel Olisa is in the works
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
Derrick Julu decides it from twelve yards
3 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.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Godspower Akekoromowei scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market24 Apr 2028
Sadiq Adams has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around El-Kanemi Warriors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Stephen Manyo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Apr 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Risilanu Ismail 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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joke Efevwerha, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Apr 2028
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Dec 2027
Godspower Akekoromowei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risilanu Ismail was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market6 Dec 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.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
David Damboama has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market6 Dec 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tosin Olawale’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at El-Kanemi Warriors. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Match6 Dec 2027
Continental football is in reach for El-Kanemi Warriors
66 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at El-Kanemi Warriors than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Salisu Ibrahim knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El-Kanemi Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
David Idaiye and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of David Damboama
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Salisu Ibrahim and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Hamed Abdulhameed 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Nov 2027
Azubuike Casmir and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risilanu Ismail was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Tosin Olawale knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at El-Kanemi Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say David Damboama is on it.
Market8 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Tosin Olawale’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market8 Nov 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.
Match8 Nov 2027
Continental football is in reach for El-Kanemi Warriors
66 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one El-Kanemi Warriors will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Squad8 Nov 2027
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at El-Kanemi Warriors the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Ismail Mukhtar: 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.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Azubuike Casmir 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Risilanu Ismail 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.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Yakubu Abbas gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Yakubu Abbas is on it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Salisu Ibrahim
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Risilanu Ismail and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 5 years.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Godspower Akekoromowei and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Boardroom18 Oct 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Tomiwa Awojob has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means El-Kanemi Warriors have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Risilanu Ismail was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of David Idaiye
“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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ibrahim Yahaya is on it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match29 May 2027
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Emmanuel Jonas decided nobody was going anywhere. Ikorodu City had no time left to answer.
The dugout31 May 2027
Bunu Sale: 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.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad31 May 2027
Risilanu Ismail 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Godspower Akekoromowei and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces31 May 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Risilanu Ismail has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad31 May 2027
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 May 2027
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Risilanu Ismail decided nobody was going anywhere. Katsina United had no time left to answer.
Player ratings24 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Risilanu Ismail at 20 — 8.00
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Risilanu Ismail did not need any: 8.00, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad24 May 2027
Risilanu Ismail 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.
Match22 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Risilanu Ismail. 2‑1 against Katsina United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad24 May 2027
Godspower Akekoromowei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 May 2027
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout24 May 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Moses Ajayi could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Bakura Jibrin: 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.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Joke Efevwerha
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at El-Kanemi Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Risilanu Ismail is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Salisu Ibrahim and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 4 years.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Ibrahim Yahaya knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Yahaya trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market29 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. El-Kanemi Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Risilanu Ismail and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Moses Ajayi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the El-Kanemi Warriors dressing room was either.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Hamed Abdulhameed 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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Nathaniel Asibe
“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.
Market22 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Emmanuel Jonas’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 10. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Risilanu Ismail and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamed Abdulhameed was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sadiq Adams, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
David Damboama has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Joke Efevwerha has written the date down.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one El-Kanemi Warriors will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.