Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The 2023/24 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), officially ended on June 23, 2024 with Rangers International FC of Enugu winning her eight League title.
The ‘Flying Antelopes’ as the club is fondly called, courtesy of former Radio Nigeria ace commentator, Ernest Okonkwo of blessed memory, achieved the feat with one match to spare.
The Enugu based club achieved the feat after defeating old rivals Bendel Insurance of Benin by two goals to nothing in the week 37 match played at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium Enugu on Sunday June 16, 2024.
Rangers is a child of history whose birth was necessitated as part of the need for quick reintegration of the Igbos of the then Eastern Nigeria after the civil war in 1970.
The club is one of the three oldest clubs in Nigeria, the other two are Bendel Insurance of Benin and Kano Pillars of Kano.
Rangers remains the only Nigerian club never to have been relegated from the Nigeria Premier League since it’s formation in 1970.
The club won its first nationally organised tournament in 1970 and then qualified to play the African Cup of Champion’s club in 1971 where it lost in the quarter final to ASEC Mimosas FC of Ivory Coast.
The club became the toast of football fans in Nigeria and Africa when in 1977 two greatest Nigerian clubs Rangers International FC and the then IICC shooting stars FC of Ibadan clashed in the semi-finals of the African Cup Winners Cup.
This was the greatest tie in Nigerian football history, with the likes of legendary Christian Chukwu, Emmanuel Okala and Stanley Okoronkwo facing Shegun Odegbami, Muda Lawal and Felix Owolabi.
Rangers won the two legged encounter and went ahead to defeat Canon Spotiff of Yaounde, Cameroon 5–2 on aggregate in the final, including a 4–1 win on Nigerian soil.
After her exploits in the 70’s and 80’s the pride of the East joined the new fully professional league in 1990 and made it to the cup final that year, losing to Stationary Stores of Lagos 5–4 on penalties.
In November 2008, Rangers became the first Nigerian club-side to become a public liability company and to sell ownership stock.
However, the deal fell through, and the club began the 2009 season in debt, which meant it remained a state government owned club.
After the 2015 season which nearly saw them almost relegated, Rangers bounced back to win the 2016 Nigeria Premier Football League, their first championship since 1982.
However, Rangers fortunes dimmed as the state government, in September 2021 awarded contract for the renovation of the playing pitch of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium.
This forced Rangers to play their matches at the Awka Township Stadium in Anambra for two consecutive seasons.
The loss of the Cathedral, as Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium is fondly called, meant that the flying antelopes narrowly escaped relegation in 2021/22 and 2022/23 NPFL seasons respectively.
The coming of the present administration of Gov. Peter Mbah changed the fortunes of the club.
The governor, after receiving briefs on Rangers International FC decided to take the bull by the horn.
He appointed some pragmatic and hardworking young persons in Llyod Ekweremadu as Commissioner for Sports and Amobi Ezeaku, a registered player, as General Manager/CEO of Rangers International, while Fidelis Illechukwu was appointed as Technical Adviser of Rangers.
Mbah, after visiting the stadium to see things for himself, promised that his administration would complete the stadium and Rangers would return to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium by November 2023.
It was like magic when on December 28, 2023, Rangers returned to the stadium to the warm embrace of their fanatical supporters.
Smarting from the hangover of playing in Awka, the team ended the first half of the league in the middle of the pack.
However, with the addition of six new players during the window break the flying antelopes returned in the second half of the NPFL to win five matches back to back both home and away.
Under their technical adviser, Fidelis Illechukwu, the team soared until it climbed to the league summit and remained there until the end.
On Sunday June 23, at the new Rwang Pam Stadium in faraway Jos, Plateau State, the Flying Antelopes lifted the NPFL trophy after defeating Gombe United by 2-1 to end the season with 70 solid points.
The team has the government, management, players and their ever present darling fans to thank for this no mean feat.
For their efforts in the league, Rangers took home a giant trophy and a cheque of N150 million only.
