From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Kwara United, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 7.68 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$41.0K was the most the club would pay and Remo Stars were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Shooting Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Usman Abubakar again, and this time the name on the line is Laçi. El-Kanemi Warriors are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout24 Aug 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kehinde Lawal arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Kehinde Lawal has, at El-Kanemi Warriors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Tosin Olawale at 21 — 7.88
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tosin Olawale did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $44.5K — a club that wants Emmanuel Olisa enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$41.0K on the table at Remo Stars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Joel Odoh 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Liberty Professionals said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
David Idaiye 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The formation has left Kehinde Lawal behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. El-Kanemi Warriors will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Aug 2026
Risilanu Ismail had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Abia Warriors were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Tosin Olawale, 21, steals the show — 7.86
Marked 7.86 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Joseph George gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Joseph George has just signed for El-Kanemi Warriors, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
Only the photograph left for Bakura Jibrin
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bakura Jibrin will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around El-Kanemi Warriors the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market10 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Academia Puerto Cabello have kept their man, and El-Kanemi Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Emmanuel Awoniyi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Tosin Olawale at 21 — 7.99
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tosin Olawale did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Stade Malien 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 terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tosin Olawale 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.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Shooting Stars: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Rivers United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Kenneth Ndidi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the El-Kanemi Warriors dressing room was either.