Lagos – The Chairman of 3SC FC of Ibadan, Rasheed Balogun, says the club has the mandate to secure a continental ticket after the 2015/2016 league set by its management.
Balogun told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos that winning the league might not be realisable for now but playing at the continental stage was within reach.
He said that the club’s management was not bothered about the season’s first result which they lost to Lobi Stars of Markurdi.
“We are not bothered about the result; we have our mandate which is to play continental football next season.
“The loss may have come badly but we still keep to everything and the coach Kadri Ikhana understands this as much.
“Our set target is nothing less than continental football from the coach, players and all the members of the management,’’ he told NAN on telephone.
NAN reports that 3SC (Shooting Stars Sports Club) has been a force to reckon with in the history of the Nigerian Premier Football League since its inception in 1972.
The club has won the league five times in 1976, 1980, 1983, 1995 and 1998.
The team was also twice runners-up in the CAF Champions league last 1996.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
Shooting Stars had since not been consistent in playing in league after coming back from relegation in 2014.
In order to reposition the team to restore its place in the league, 3SC appointed Kadri Ikhana to tutor the team with a mandate for them to play continental football.
Last season saw shooting stars struggle in the first half until the appointment of experienced coach Gbenga Ogunbote who had since moved to Giwa FC.
NAN reports that the club is one of the founders of the Nigerian Premier League in 1972.
It started as WNDC Ibadan (Western Nigeria Development Company), and were later called IICC (Industrial Investment and Credit Corporation) Shooting Stars of Ibadan.
The nickname “Shooting Stars’’ was added with the suggestion of team foundation members, the late Jide Johnson and Niyi Omowon the “Aare Odan Liberty’’ (Generalissimo of Liberty Stadium) who believed that the players were “stars’’ in their own right.
Shooting Stars is one of the most followed football clubs in Nigeria and play their home matches at the Lekan Salami Stadium, a facility named after the late Lekan Salami, their former proprietor.
Before, “Sooting’’ as it is called by its supporters, used to play at the famous Liberty Stadium, one of the venues for the world youth soccer championship in 1999.
Shooting stars is the first club to win the FA cup on club basis in Nigeria in 1971 with prominent players like Aderoju Omowon, Niyi Akande, Jossy Lad and Amusa Adisa.
It is one of the most decorated club sides in Nigeria alongside Enugu Rangers and the defunct Stationeru Stores FC of Lagos.
In fact, Shooting Stars and Enugu Rangers are known as the traditional football clubs in the country, both dominating the football scene in the country during 1970s and 1980s. (NAN)
