The history of Nigerian football pre- and post-colonial is very well documented. In the colonial era, our affiliation was with the English FA, and their records and archives are intact. The Nigerian takeover of football post-colonial era was via the Nigerian Olympic movement led by Sir Justice Adetokunbo Ademola, supported by Israel Adebajo. They financed the process and got the English FA to back Nigeria’s application for FIFA affiliation as a requirement for Nigeria’s planned Football participation in the 1960 Rome Olympics. The FIFA Affiliation Application went in through CAF in 1959 and was ratified in the FIFA Congress in 1960.
Ademola brought in GKJ Amachree as the first chairman of the indigenous Nigerian Football Association and Israel Adebajo as treasurer. Government interference led to their sacking, and after the 1966 coup, Amachree came back as chairman. Adebajo, however, focused his attention on developing his football club, which eventually produced 10 starting players for Nigeria’s Green Eagles in their first major international football appearance at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. They encountered the legendary Brazilian team and forced a 3-3 draw after trailing in the match. Nigeria’s first football Olympics appearance was a project 10 years in the making, as Nigeria failed to qualify for the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. 28 years later, Nigeria won football gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, after the first of six World Cup appearances in the USA 94.
