Marked for Alex Amaefula
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Nov 2027
Alex Amaefula 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 Kun Khalifat can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Joseph Ameh 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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Blessed Iyamu asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Aug 2027
22 matches without a win for Kun Khalifat
The run now stands at 22, and the questions being asked around Kun Khalifat are no longer polite ones.
Market23 Aug 2027
Blessed Iyamu 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 Kun Khalifat can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Abu Azeez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Marked 7.25 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Kun Khalifat had the best player on the pitch.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Aug 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kun Khalifat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match21 Aug 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Nasarawa United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Market23 Aug 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Peter Ikechukwu may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Jul 2027
16 matches without a win for Kun Khalifat
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Kun Khalifat are no longer polite ones.
Match12 Jul 2027
Every point is an argument now for Kun Khalifat
Position 18 and 26 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market12 Jul 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 Kun Khalifat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Abu Azeez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Joseph Ameh
“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.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The team sheet said everything about Alex Amaefula
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Alex Amaefula.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market29 Mar 2027
Emmanuel Okoh 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 Kun Khalifat can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match27 Mar 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abu Azeez in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Alex Amaefula
“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.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
The afternoon belonged to Joseph Ameh
A mark of 7.51, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kun Khalifat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Match27 Mar 2027
Point won or two lost for Kun Khalifat?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Rivers United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Nov 2026
“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 Kun Khalifat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Sep 2026
Sunday Kalu 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 Kun Khalifat can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Akpan Nsikak-Abong 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Benard Mundi gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match19 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Kun Khalifat?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against El-Kanemi Warriors? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tega Ebetomane 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 Tega Ebetomane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market21 Sep 2026
Kun Khalifat have let the market know Tega Ebetomane can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 20 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Kun Khalifat have a decision that made itself.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alex Amaefula commits to Kun Khalifat for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Abu Azeez. 2‑1 against Rivers United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.72 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A masterclass from Abu Azeez
Marked 8.69 — 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Blessed Iyamu
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Chinonso Romanus’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kun Khalifat, and both men came out saying it was fine.