From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Aug 2026
Rivers United are out and Ikorodu City go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Rivers United are out and Ikorodu City go through, 3‑2 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market24 Aug 2026
Anderson Pere 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.
Market24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tosin Oyedokun 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
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 Aug 2026
Words at Ikorodu City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shodeinde Moses 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.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ibifubara Dagogo 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tosin Oyedokun, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Aug 2026
Warri Wolves are out and Ikorodu City go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Samuel Ezekiel at 19 — 7.65
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuel Ezekiel did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market17 Aug 2026
Remo Stars come back empty-handed
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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thompson Jasmine 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ikorodu City they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 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 Ikorodu City this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Chineme Chinonso 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 terraces17 Aug 2026
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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.
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
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Shodeinde Moses 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ikorodu City have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gift Udoh commits to Ikorodu City for another 4 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
48 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.77 on the card, and the Ikorodu City support went home talking about one name.
Match8 Aug 2026
It needed Chidera Oparaocha to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Barau, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Chidera Oparaocha wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Chidera Oparaocha found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Enyimba went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
A brace, and Chidera Oparaocha takes the afternoon — 9.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chidera Oparaocha provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Ibifubara Dagogo could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.46
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.46, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
Market3 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ikorodu City have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Shodeinde Moses and Ikorodu City agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Tosin Oyedokun 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Ikorodu City training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shodeinde Moses 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chidera Oparaocha. 2‑1 against Enyimba, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.