Ex-Nigeria U20 coach Dan Evumena’s death shocks Nigeria football community

By Saheed Afolabi

Nigeria women’s football community were thrown into sudden mourning following the death of former Delta Queens and Nigeria U20 women’s coach, Dan Evumena on Wednesday morning.

Coach Evumena guided the Falconets to a quarterfinal place in 2008, before they were eliminated by France. He also led the Asaba based outfit to two Nigeria Women’s Football League Premiership titles.

Following the shocking news, Nigerians have taken turn to react to the unfortunate demise, including coach Mansur Abdullahi, who described the late Evumena as a dedicated, hardworking personality and sound tactician.

“Well, he was a hardworking person, he was dedicated to his job, and he was a disciplinarian. He was a senior citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria because he was retired from civil service as a senior immigration officer,” he said

“He was my coursemate, just last year we graduated from London University in Sport Management. It is quite sad. He fell sick on the 24th of last month and a few days ago, he went into a coma and gave up.

“When it comes to coaching, he’s a sound tactician. There are no two ways about it and he is a disciplinarian. In every aspect of life, if one is not disciplined, then you should forget about it. It is quite sad.

“He is a former president of the amalgamation of women football coaches of Nigeria and former chairman of Delta State Football Coaches association. In fact, he is the immediate past chairman.”

The renowned women’s football coach added that this is a big loss to the sport industry.

“Death is certain. It’s unfortunate that it is our turn in the sports industry, a lot of us are going,” he continued.

“You can imagine within a short period, in less than two weeks, we have lost a serving chairman and a past chairman of a state association. It’s not about the industry, it’s about death and this is a call to every fellow human being to think about his death because definitely we came to this world at a different time and we will also go back one day.”