Rangers Int’l FC embrace abridged league, target continental ticket
League
Management of Rangers International Football Club of Enugu has accepted the ongoing Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) and set a target of getting a continental ticket for the forthcoming season.
The club’s Secretary, Ferdinand Ugwuarua and the Technical Adviser, Coach Abdul Maikaba disclosed this in a media intraction with members of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) in Enugu on Wednesday.
Reports that Rangers FC will play in group B which includes, Niger Tornadoes, Rivers United, Doma United, Wikki Tourist, Lobi Stars, Dakkada FC, Sunshine Stars, Bayelsa United and Abia Warriors FC.
According to Ugwuarua, Rangers FC are one of the clubs that accepted the fact that there is no time to prosecute full league.
“As a matter of that, we prepared well for new season, more especially our first match of the season against Abia Warriors FC of Umuahia on January 15, 2023 at Awka.
“We the management of Rangers FC, regretted the inconveniences associated with the club playing away from home and assure the supporters that the club will do them proud at the adopted home.
“It is painful that we are not starting the league at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, due to the ongoing reconstruction work but we believe we will play there this season,” he said.
He noted that the club maintained it’s normal tradition of recruiting indegeneous and grassroots players with inclusion of those that were recruited outside the state.
The secretary informed SWAN that the issue of the club being without a team manager since Amobi Ezeaku resigned was not in the hand of the club’s management.
“Appointment of team manager is not our duty but the state government and we hope they will do that sooner than later,” Ugwuarua said.
Also, Maikaba said the team’s first target was to qualify from the group before thinking of the second phase.
According to the coach, I am not comfortable with the abridged league but have to accept it for the league to go in line with their counterpart from other countries.
“We have a limited time to run the league and to meet up with the registration of clubs for continental league.
“Apart from all this issues, full league will be the best to ensure that the best clubs represented the country at the continent at the end of the season,” he said.
Maikaba said the technical crew did thier home work well by recruiting players in all the department of the team and replacing those that left the club.
“We recruited players like, Chidera Eze, Jacob John, Charles Emmanuel, Chukwudi Nwodo, Kingsley Madufo and others,” Maikaba said.
