Lobi Stars F.C.

Lobi Stars F.C.
Full name	Lobi Stars Football Club
Nickname(s)	Alia Boys
Founded	1981 by late Bishop A.A. Usuh
Ground	Aper Aku Stadium Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria
Capacity	8,000
Chairman	Dr Philip Nongu
Manager	Mika Lönnström
League	Nigeria Premier Football League
2023–24	Nigeria Premier Football League, 6th of 20
Home colours Away colours

Lobi Stars Football Club (formerly known as Mosquito football club, Lobi Bank, BBL Hawks, and Hawks) is a Nigerian professional soccer club based in Makurdi, Benue. The club competes in the Nigerian Professional Football League. The Stars' home is the 8,000-seater Aper Aku Stadium.^[1]

History

Founded as Hawks of Makurdi in 1981 by the Benue State sports council, the club was renamed Benue Breweries Limited (BBL) Hawks Football Club, when the state-owned Breweries acquired the club in 1985. There was another change again when the state-owned Lobi Bank acquired the club in 1990 and named it Lobi Bank Football Club.^[2]

In 1999, the Nigeria Football League was played in a new format which saw the top four teams squaring up in a knockout Super League at the National Stadium, Surulere. Lobi Stars won the maiden edition of the Nigerian Super League under coach Godwin Koko Uwua's management. Lobi Stars won its first and only FA Cup title in 2003 after beating Sharks FC of Port-Harcourt.^[3]

In 2005 they reached the finals of the domestic FA Cup where they lost to Enyimba.^[4]

They finished the 2008–09 season with 13 wins, 10 draws and 15 losses after winning a game on appeal against Enugu Rangers, avoiding the drop by one point.^[5]

In August 2009, the Benue State government announced the club will be leased to private ownership, ending direct support from the State, but that never materialised.^[5] Lobi finished 3rd in Glo premier league in 2012. They also reached the Federation Cup final that season but lost to Heartland F.C. of Owerri.^[6]

Honours

• Nigeria Professional Football League
  • Champions: 1999
• Nigeria FA Cup
  • Winners: 2003
• Nigeria Super Cup
  • Winners: 1999, 2018

Performance in CAF competitions

• CAF Champions League

2000 – Group stage

2018–19 – Group stage

• CAF Confederation Cup

2004 – Second round

2006 – Second round

2012 – First round

• WAFU Club Championship

2010 – First round

Current squad

As of 8 February 2024^[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NGA Daniel Atsaka 2 DF  NGA John Lazarus 31 DF  NGA Solomon Kwambe 6 DF  NGA Jimmy Iteji 10 FW  NGA Stanley Oganbor 8 MF  NGA Kumaga Suur 9 FW  NGA Barnabas Imenger 11 FW  NGA Samuel Tiza Iorwuese 12 GK  NGA Emmanuel Daniel 13 DF  NGA Orji Kalu Okagbue 14 FW  NGA Dabani Godwin Alao 16 FW  NGA Waheed Adebayo 17 DF  NGA Moses Tsehuan

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 MF  NGA Ajibola Adeleke 19 CF  NGA Ossy Martins 21 MF  NGA Christian Madu 25 DF  NGA Nnamdi Frank 33 MF  NGA Ifeanyi Assurance 22 MF  NGA Onah Peter 27 DF  NGA Monday Akile 28 MF  NGA Ahmadu Liman 5 FW  NGA Yem Reubem 30 GK  NGA Akor Itodo 33 DF  NGA Agbanyi Vershima 34 CB  NGA Arinze Ogbonna 37 FW  NGA Olorintoba Segun 35 FW  NGA Itim Paul

Coaching staff

As of 8 November 2024

Name Role Mika Lönnström Head coach Tar Akombo Assistant coach Save Okoh Goalkeeping coach Benjamin Bemgba Jiki Coach Daniel Amokachi Technical advisor

Former managers

• Shaibu Amodu
• Kosta Papić
• Godwin Uwua
• Salisu Yusuf
• Ufere Nwankwo
• Mitko Dobrev (2009–??)
• John Zaki
• Garba Lawal
• Solomon Ogbeide
• Gbenga Ogunbote
• Kabiru Dogo
• Eddy Dombraye
• Eugene Agagbe

Notable players

• Kelechi Okoye^[8]

References

1. "Lobi Stars Football Club History". sitesng.com. Archived from the original on 2021-05-19. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
2. "Dominic Iorfa Online : About Lobi Stars". Dominic Iorfa Online. Archived from the original on 2018-07-06. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
3. Omuya, Kevin (2022-03-19). "Lobi Stars players, owner, stadium, coach, trophies, world rankings". SportsBrief - Sport news. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
4. "Nigeria: Enyimba Break Fa Cup Jinx".
5. Adigun, Taye Hassan. "Lobi Stars". Felele247 Football. Archived from the original on 2021-05-18. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
6. KickOff. "Heartland FC and Lobi Stars FC reach Federation Cup final". KickOff. Archived from the original on 2022-11-22. Retrieved 2022-11-22.
7. "CAF Champions League squad". Archived from the original on 2018-12-01. Retrieved 2018-12-25.
8. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "NFT player — National team & Club appearances: Okoye, Kelechi". national-football-teams.com. National Football Teams. Archived from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2023.

External links

• http://iorfaonline.blogspot.com/p/about-lobi-stars.html
• Lobi Stars FC Results - current results of Lobi Stars FC matches
• Lobi signs 16 players at www.ngrguardiannews.com, accessed 20 November 2012
• Iorfa vows to lift Lobi, as Board drops Kpakpor. Vanguard accessed 9 Nov. 2008^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Lobi okays Dobrev, places 10 on transfer^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Lobi Stars to be privatised next month (goal.com)
• Nwankwo joins Lobi Stars
• The bizarre refereeing that nearly claimed lives at Aper Aku Stadium (Sunday Trust)
• LMC declares 2017/18 NPFL season concluded at Match Day 24