”One Of The Best” Sports Administrators Mourn Ex-Super Eagles Coach Chukwu
Christian Chukwu, former Super Eagles captain and head coach, has died at 74.
Segun Odegbami, a former teammate and close friend, confirmed Chukwu’s death to TheCable on Saturday.
“I just received the news that between 9:00 and 10:00 this morning, ‘Chairman’ Christian Chukwu, MFR, my bosom friend and team mate, one of the greatest football players in Nigeria’s football history, former captain and coach of Nigeria’s national football team, has passed on,” Odegbami wrote in a WhatsApp broadcast.
“Babuje, Emmanuel Okala, MON, gave me the sad news a few minutes ago.”
The cause of Chukwu’s death remains undisclosed.
In 2019, Chukwu suffered prostate cancer, which affected his leg. The family had to open a GoFundMe appeal to solicit funds for the Nigerian football legend’s medical treatment.
Femi Otedola, the billionaire businessman, eventually paid $50,000 for Chukwu’s treatment overseas.
Chukwu is regarded as one of Nigeria’s greatest centre-backs and captains. He was captain when the Super Eagles won their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title in 1994 on home soil. He was also named the player of the tournament.
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He played for one club, Enugu Rangers, and led the club to the 1977 Africa Cup Winners Cup.
Chukwu was head coach of the Eagles between 2002 and 2005.
He led the team to a bronze medal at Tunisia’s 2004 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The manager was relieved of the job in June 2005 during the qualification campaign for the World Cup in Germany.
Chukwu also served as assistant coach of the first team to win a FIFA World Cup trophy for Nigeria – the Golden Eaglets that triumphed at the FIFA U16 World Cup in China in 1985.
Meanwhile, reactions have continued to trail the death of Chukwu, with sports stakeholdersm in Nigeria paying tributes to the late coach.
Paying tributes to his former coach in a telephone chat with Hifox News, former Eagles midfielder Mutiu Adepoju described Chukwu as one of the best things to have ever happened to the country’s football.
Also, The Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko, has mourned the death of Nigeria’s national team’s most iconic captain, Christian ‘Chairman’ Chukwu.
Mallam Dikko’s reaction on behalf of the Commission and sporting fraternity came minutes after receiving the news of Chukwu’s demise by his former team mate and Nigerian International, Dr. Segun Odegbami, describing his passage as a big shock.
Dikko, in a statement by NSC’s Director, Information and Public Relations, Mrs Kehinde Ajayi, said “This news came to me as a big shock. Chairman is no more. On behalf of the Commission and the entire sporting fraternity and indeed the Federal Government of Nigeria, I extend my condolences to his family and indeed the whole of Nigeria.
He pledged that the Commission will do everything within its means to immortalise him and make sure that his dream for Nigerian football is sustained.
