Ex-Footballer, SEGUN ODEGBAMI Tells City People
When City People visited the home of Nigerian football icon, Chief Segun Odegbami, in Abeokuta, it was more than a casual chat, it became a masterclass on why Nigerian clubs have struggled to dominate continental football the way clubs from Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa have done in recent times.
Known affectionately as “Mathematical Odegbami” for his elegant play during Nigeria’s golden era, Odegbami starred for Shooting Stars of Ibadan (3SC), leading the team to continental glory in 1976 when they won the African Cup Winners’ Cup, long before any other Nigerian club did. Though he admired Rangers International, he never played for them.
The conversation began with a reflection on history, Rangers International, the club he admired deeply but never played for. Though most of his accomplishments were with 3SC of Ibadan, including the historic 1976 Cup Winners’ Cup triumph, Nigeria’s first, Rangers would only win it the following year. That record stood until Enyimba’s back-to-back CAF Champions League titles in 2003 and 2004. Now, in 2025, Pyramids FC of Egypt, a club just seven years old, had achieved continental glory by winning the CAF Champions League.
“There is no formula,” he began. “It’s not science. If there was a formula, and you followed it, it would work. But the ball has not stopped being an art form. So, even if there was a formula, just follow this and that and you will win, it never happens like that. Everybody gambles. Even when Paris Saint-Germain bought some of the best players, the best three, they couldn’t win. Now they don’t have any of them. And now they won.”
“It’s not as if there’s a formula you follow and hand over to anybody. The factors that come into play are so many and so varied. But at the end, you say it’s a beautiful game. It is beautiful because it is unpredictable. Totally unpredictable. The variations, the fluidity, the unpredictability, that’s what makes it beautiful. So there is no guarantee,” he said.
Still, he acknowledged that a few Nigerian clubs were beginning to take steps in the right direction. “Yes, there are certain things you do that increase your chances of winning, which a few clubs have started to do in Nigeria. One of them is Remo Stars of Ikene. That’s a team to watch. You can see they are a strong team. What they are doing – they are putting in place infrastructure. They have a solid background because of their links with Europe, with CD Farense in Portugal. There’s a relationship between their whole team and the new team. The players, the experiences, the exchange from both sides, you know, they have improved the capacity of their coaching. And they are fishing for the best players in Nigeria. They are on course. If they win, nobody will be surprised.”
He explained that replicating this success across more clubs remains a tall order, drawing parallels with global football. “In the same vein, you ask yourself, why do you mention teams in the Premier League like Everton? They have never won the Premiership before. They’ve been there for over 100 years. Why have they never won it? Is it that they don’t want to win? Is it that they are not doing the things that will make them win? Whereas you mention certain teams, they have won championships over and over. Egypt and South Africa, something is working for them. Real Madrid, year in, year out, they are always near the top. Bayern Munich, year in, year out. Barcelona, year in, year out. You know, there are teams that have established systems. They do the right things and always come close. But there is no formula. Let’s go for it,” Odegbami said.
He was clear that no single path leads to victory, not even when guided by the most successful managers in the world. “If you say, ‘Follow this and you will win,’ nobody can say that. Not even Ancelotti or Mourinho or Pep Guardiola, no, no, no. None of them can say that. You have to improve your chances of achieving that which you set out to achieve. You have to create it. But you are not alone in creating it. Others are also creating theirs. So, you are in competition. And you depend on talent. You depend on luck. You depend on resources. So many factors come into play.”
He spoke passionately about the unpredictability of football and how sometimes the most star-studded teams still fall short. “As we said before, you put together the three or four best players in the world. They couldn’t achieve anything. Now, you pick young stars, 18, 19-year-old rookies, and they achieve. They become the best club in the world. So, there is no formula. There are no guarantees. It doesn’t matter what you tell anybody. Sometimes it just comes. You are lucky. A generation of players will just come,” he said.
Then he reflected on Nigeria’s golden era. “It happened in 1993–1994. No, even before that. They came from the Junior World Cup of 1990 in Japan. We all saw the potentials of those players, their ability. By 1993, when they were playing at the World Youth Championship, everybody knew this team had talent. So, it was not a surprise that three years later they won the Olympic gold. It is a bunch,” the legendary footballer concluded.
By Benprince Ezeh
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