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| How the stadium will look like |
FC Ifeanyi Ubah have been making news since the kickoff of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season with the acquisition of six Brazilians and other players from across Africa.
It was one of the steps taken by the president of the Nnewi, Anambra State-based club, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah towards revolutionizing the Nigeria’s domestic league.
The Oil mogul is about to achieve another landmark by establishing a world class games village worth over $300m. He is determined to transform the club into a model outfit, not only in Nigeria but also in the continent.
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| Ifeanyi Uba |
The games village which will be located in Nnewi, will have the state of the art facilities including two football stadium of 17,000 capacity, five star hotel, shopping complex, swimming pool and basketball court. It will be the first of its kind in the country.
" He said we are developing games village that will have a five star hotel, shopping plaza, several infrastructure in one city – we call it a mini city. You have so many facilities in the same place. I am also preparing for my retirement. I started very early in life. I started at under 20 to start hustling. So I have done half of my adult age working earlier in life.
So I have to retire very early. It is a major project. Some clubs can come here. We can host about 10 clubs in a pre-season at the same time.
The first stadium is about 17,000 sitting capacity. The second about the same capacity but a major difference is that one will be artificial playing turf while the other will be a natural grass turf. I believe before the end of the season they will be ready. At the moment we have gone past 70 per cent and that is just in six months.
The owner of TP Mazembe (Katumbi) is my friend. I spent 12 years in DR Congo. I know him very well and we share a lot in vision together. You can see what TP Mazembe are doing from Lubumbashi where they are based.
I sincerely believe that you don’t need to be in the capital city, Abuja or Lagos to be a big club. We are a local club but of international standard. I believe we are not doing badly ".
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| The Brazilian players |
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| Alberico Barbosa da Silva who became the first Brazilian to score in the Nigerian League |
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| William Da Silva one of the Brazilian player who scored the wining goal against Heartland in week 8 |
About the six Brazilian players
“This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that we will have players from Brazil playing in our league.“We decided that even if you are Messi or Ronaldo, you must touch the ball before we sign you on to our club.
“We have seen situations where players don’t disclose that they have injury, all in the name joining a club by all means.
“So, we are here to receive them as a team and we are happy to have them in Nigeria,” he said.
The chairman added that the club was willing to sign more Nigerian players that can meet the club’s criteria, noting that the arrival of the Brazilians would not deprive Nigeria players of their chances.
“Our target as a club is to bring good football to the country, Ifeanyi Ubah FC is still open to home-based players for trials.
