Shooting Stars’ historic return exposes Nigerian football’s fan divide

Shooting Stars marked their return to continental football after 27 years with a 1-0 win over Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien, but the sparse crowd at the 10,000-capacity MKO Abiola Stadium highlighted the uneasy gap between Nigerian supporters and their domestic clubs.

The occasion was expected to carry the weight of history. Instead, large sections of the stadium were unoccupied when the Nigerian side faced CS Sfaxien on Saturday evening.

There were supporters inside the ground, but most were gathered in one section. The crowd appeared to be around 30% of the stadium’s capacity, while no travelling supporters from Tunisia were visibly present to increase the atmosphere.

From my position, however, the size of the crowd did not tell the entire story. A long, brightly coloured plastic horn produced a constant, monotonous buzz from the Shooting Stars section. The noise seemed far greater than the number of people creating it, while the supporters sang, shouted and waited for their team to provide a moment worthy of the occasion.

That moment arrived when Lucky Emmanuel scored.

The response was immediate. Supporters erupted in celebration, with the goal carrying a significance that went beyond the scoreline. It was Shooting Stars’ first continental goal since their 27-year absence from African football.

For a short time, the empty seats no longer mattered. The small group behind the goal arguably represented Nigerian football more accurately than the vacant sections around them because those supporters had not simply turned up at the stadium. They had travelled from Ibadan.

Six buses from Ibadan

Prophet Joas Adeseko, one of the travelling supporters, said the group had brought six large buses from Ibadan, as well as smaller buses and cars. They had funded the trip themselves.

Adeseko said one of the larger buses cost almost ₦120,000, while the smaller buses cost approximately ₦60,000 each. No one paid the supporters to make the journey, and there was no guarantee that the stadium would be full. They travelled because of their attachment to Shooting Stars.

“It is not the board that gave us the money; we spent our own money,” Adeseko told me. “We did not look to the board or anybody for it.”

He said he had followed Shooting Stars for decades. Although he is from Kwara State and has been recognised as a supporter of Kwara United, his loyalty remains with the Ibadan club.

“When we are going to Kwara to play against Kwara United, I will still follow Shooting Stars to Kwara,” he said.

He then offered a description of his relationship with the club that captured the emotion behind the journey: “As far as I am concerned, I see them as my own. They are like my son. They are like a daughter to me. This club… is my heart. It is my blood. It is my soul.”

Those words are difficult to reconcile with the familiar claim that Nigerians have lost interest in domestic football. The empty seats may suggest indifference, but Adeseko’s story points to a more complicated reality.

Nigerians still care about football. The challenge is that Nigerian football has not found a reliable way to transform that passion into a vibrant and sustainable matchday culture.

Anyone who has spent a weekend around Nigerian football knows how deeply the game is woven into daily life. Supporters fill viewing centres for European matches, argue passionately about Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, buy foreign club shirts and follow games played thousands of kilometres away as if the players represented their own neighbourhoods.

The issue is not whether Nigerians love football. It is why so little of that enthusiasm reaches Nigerian stadiums.

A club away from home

Shooting Stars were not playing at their traditional home. The club is based in Ibadan and normally uses Lekan Salami Stadium, but the condition of the pitch meant the venue was unsuitable for a continental fixture.

The club therefore took its African campaign to Abeokuta. Supporters who wanted to watch an important home match first had to leave their own city. Some made the journey anyway, which is why the attendance should not be viewed simply as proof of an uninterested fan base.

In fact, the six buses from Ibadan suggest the opposite. There is commitment, but it has not been converted into numbers on a consistent basis. There is loyalty, but not yet a sustainable matchday structure.

Perhaps Nigerian football has spent too much time asking why supporters are not attending and not enough time examining what it is doing to make them want to come.

A football match is more than 90 minutes between two teams. It includes the journey to the stadium, the people encountered along the way, the colours in the stands, the noise before kick-off, the anticipation of a goal and the sense that something significant is taking place within a community.

That experience matters especially in domestic football, where Nigerian clubs compete for attention with the world’s biggest leagues. Supporters can watch the Premier League and Champions League on their phones and televisions. A local club cannot compete simply by asking people to choose Nigerian football out of patriotism.

It must offer a reason to attend.

That can begin with reliable fixtures, better pitches, accessible stadiums, effective promotion, organised supporters and a matchday atmosphere that feels worth the journey.

Shooting Stars’ circumstances show how difficult that can be. The club has one of the richest histories in Nigerian football, but it cannot currently use its traditional home for an important continental match because of the playing surface.

That is more than a logistical problem. It weakens the connection between the club and its community. Lekan Salami Stadium is part of Shooting Stars’ identity, history and relationship with Ibadan. When a game is moved to another city, supporters are asked to recreate that bond elsewhere.

Some will do so. Many will not. That was visible in Abeokuta.

The city had the opportunity to host an important continental fixture involving one of Nigeria’s historic clubs, but there was little evidence that the wider community had embraced the occasion. It would be too broad to conclude that Abeokuta does not love football from one evening, yet inside the stadium there was little sign that Shooting Stars had become part of the city’s football consciousness.

That presents another challenge for Nigerian football. Clubs need communities, and communities need clubs. When a team plays in a city, supporters should not feel that a fixture has arrived there only because of an administrative decision. There should be publicity, anticipation and a sense that the event belongs to the people living around it.

Free admission alone cannot create that connection. Shooting Stars’ match was free to attend, yet the stadium remained well short of full.

Price matters, but it is not the only factor. Supporters paid to travel to Ibadan. They paid for buses, spent their time and brought their jerseys. What they were paying for was not simply entrance to a stadium but an emotional connection to their club.

Football authorities and clubs must understand the value of that connection because the supporters are already making an effort.

Adeseko and the other fans who travelled to Abeokuta did not wait for somebody else to organise their devotion. They raised money, hired buses and made the journey. They were rewarded with a historic victory, but when the noise subsided, the empty sections remained.

A small group had gone to extraordinary lengths to follow Shooting Stars while thousands of seats around them were unoccupied. That contrast was difficult to ignore.

The uncomfortable truth may be that Nigerians have not stopped loving football. Nigerian football has failed to build enough routes between that love and the stadium.

A supporter can passionately follow a club in London without ever visiting England, know the starting line-up, discuss transfers, buy the shirt and watch every match. Yet a historic Nigerian club can play a significant continental fixture a few hours away and struggle to fill a 10,000-capacity ground.

That gap was not created overnight and will not disappear simply because ticket prices are reduced or supporters are asked to attend. Rebuilding the relationship requires Nigerian clubs to feel local again and to give supporters something they can belong to, rather than something they can merely watch.

Supporters such as Adeseko should not be treated as a small group to be applauded and then forgotten. They show what Nigerian football could look like if its existing passion were organised, supported and multiplied.

I have watched Shooting Stars twice at Lekan Salami Stadium, and Saturday’s attendance in Abeokuta was noticeably smaller by comparison. The unusual circumstances of the fixture must be recognised because the club was playing outside Ibadan, but that explanation should not become an excuse.

The six buses provide an important answer. They show that distance is not an absolute barrier when supporters feel strongly enough about their club. They show that fans will spend their own money when they believe an occasion matters.

They also show that the passion remains.

The question Nigerian football should be asking is why there were six buses rather than 60.

Shooting Stars’ return to Africa produced a historic victory and their first continental goal in almost three decades. The supporters from Ibadan understood the significance. They brought their voices, money, jerseys and devotion with them.

The rest of the stadium told a different story.

Rather than asking where the supporters have gone, Nigerian football should examine the people who were present and work out how to bring more of them along. They are still travelling, paying, singing and blowing their horns.

And, as Adeseko made clear in Abeokuta, they are still carrying their clubs in their hearts, their blood and their souls.

Shooting Stars now face CS Sfaxien in the second leg. The CAF Confederation Cup first-round fixtures and results are available on the official CAF website.