Rangers International football club of Enugu on 12th June 2019 at the Agege Township Stadium Lagos qualifies to represent Nigeria in CAF Confederations Cup(Conféderation Africaine de Football) 2019/2020 Football season, sports247.ng can report
Rangers secured the points from 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League Championship know as the Super Six. The Six teams that qualified for the Super Six are; Rangers International, Akwa United, Kano Pillars, Enyimba, FC Ifeanyi Uba and Lobi Star.
Because Lobi Star of Makurdi and Rangers International football club of Enugu represented Nigeria well in the CAF Champions League and the Confederation Cup respectively in 2018/2O19 season, CAF restored the other one slot each in Champions League and the Confederation Cup earlier striped for lack of performance in the tournaments to Nigeria. Consequently, Winners of the Nigerian Professional Football League and the 1st runner-up up will represent Nigeria in CAF Champions league while the 2nd runner-up up and the Aiteo cup winner will represent Nigeria in CAF Confederations Cup.
Enyimba International football club of Aba after defeating Akwa United became the 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League Champions with 12(twelve) points from 5(five) matches, followed by the Kano Pillars who also qualifies for the Champions league with 11(eleven) points and Rangers second runners – up with 8 (eight) points. Rangers and the Aiteo cup winner will represent Nigeria in CAF Confederations Cup.
Rangers in the tournament played 5 matches, won 2 matches (Lobi and FCI Uba), drew 2(Akwa United and Kano Pillars) and lost 1(Enyimba).
Rangers in her last match with FC Ifeanyi Uba won by 4 goals to 2 scored by Chiamaka Madu in 6th minutes, own goal by Jimoh Gbadamosi played by Chidera Ezeh in 41 minutes, Christian Madu in 51 minutes and Godwin Aguda (Penalty), and Chibuike Eze in 52nd and 56th minutes respectively.
Meanwhile, Rangers Technical Adviser, Olugbenga Ogunbote won the award of Best Coach in the country for the second time. It could be recalled that Nigeria Football Federation/Aiteo awarded him the Best Coach in Nigeria 2018 League Season.
In a post-match interview, Ogunbote thanked the Enugu State Government and the Management of Rangers International football club of Enugu for the opportunity given to him to perform. He equally thanked them for engaging the services of a professional physiotherapist in Lagos who patched the injured players. In his words, “We thank God for His mercies, we started the tournament in a low key and we were able to secure a Continental ticket. But no thanks to injuries that struck the team. We were at the mercy of next team that plays but thank God it ended in praise”.
Akwa United came 4th with 6 (six) points, Lobi 5th with 4 (four) points and FC Ifeanyi Uba 6th with 0 (zero) point.
Rangers next match is on Saturday when she defends the Aiteo cup in Ibadan by playing with Niger Tornadoes Feeders team at 4 pm.
