Sports

NFF, Nigeria Immigration Mourn Late Coach Evumena

The Nigeria Football Federation, on Wednesday, expressed deep shock and sadness over the death of former Super Falconets’ head coach, Dan Evumena.

Evumena retired as an official of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in 2021 and was also the former Chairman of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association – Delta State Chapter.

Evumena died on Tuesday evening after battling with an undisclosed illness.

“The news of Dan Evumena’s death is too hard to take. I am still in shock. This is a young trainer who has done creditably well at Club and National levels and still had so much in his tank with which to fertilize and nurture the growth of many more women footballers,” a release from the Nigeria Football Federation stated.

“The death of every human being diminishes us, especially the death of every young person. He had his life in front of him.

“Our prayer is that Almighty God will grant him eternal life and also grant those he has left behind, particularly his young family, the fortitude to bear the big loss,” NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi, said in Abuja.

The late tactician was Nigeria’s head coach at the 2008 FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup in Chile. In the tournament, Nigeria reached the quarterfinals, losing out to France.

Apart from coaching a national side, Evumena was a former Head Coach of Nigeria Women’s Football League giants, Delta Queens.

Evumena served as Assistant Coach of the Super Falcons before his upliftment as Head Coach of the U-20 Girls.

He juggled his national coaching job with that of the Nigeria Immigration Service

Izuchukwu Okosi

Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc. In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio. He worked there for 13 years until October 2017. Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch. He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations. Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line. Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.