“We could have gone unbeaten like Stampede FC” – Fagbenro ‘Tafa’ Mustapha, Coach of 2024/2025 ABH League Champions, Gladiators FC

At 10:26 AM, Ibadan Time, three things were certain; One, Oshin FC had played their final match of the season, a 4-1 drubbing of Blazers FC, and would not be league champions. Two, Skippo FC would finish 6th on the standings, bringing an end to another poor season. Three, and most importantly, the Yellow Boys, Gladiator FC, were league champions, courtesy of an unbelievable 9:0 win. 

In recognition of this feat, and to better understand the journey after 10 Gameweeks, the UIMSA Press’ Muhammad Oluwatimilehin had a chat with the Coach of the team, Fagbenro Mustapha. He spoke about strategies, the support the team had, and changes that could have been made. Read on. 

Congrats on the win. Can you give me a brief introduction of yourself?

My name is Fagbenro Mustapha, 600L MBBS UI, the coach of Gladiators FC, the [ABH] league champions.

What was your proudest moment during the league?

My proudest moment during the league has to be today because we had to climb a mountain with so many challenges to overcome and we were able to. 

We had to score a whole lot of goals and it wasn’t an easy feat especially with how difficult the league is.

How did you approach balancing individual strengths and teamwork?

I had to do a lot of one on-one coaching with a lot of players with the help of my assistant, Daniel. We had to read the game to know who and when to field the right player and capitalise on individual strengths for the betterment of the team.

What changes or strategies made the biggest impact on our performance this season?

The change that had the biggest impact was sorting out our defensive issues of the first half of the season by signing a natural defender from UI, Deji, as opposed to using a midfielder as makeshift. This was impactful enough for us to win all our matches during the second half of the season without dropping any point at all as opposed to losing two matches back to back in the first half of the season.

How important was the support from fans, staff, and others to this success?

The support of fans was so important, especially from my guys on E block second floor as well as advice. There was also a lot of support as well from the team owner, Newman, especially being that he had been a coach in the league formerly. He maintained contact with me throughout the season, always giving advice and helpful insights. We were able to discuss a lot of things on the coaching group created including tactics.

Looking back, is there anything you would’ve done differently during the season?

Looking back I’d have loved to have sorted our defensive issues much earlier. I think we could have gone unbeaten like Stampede FC did the other year.

Muhammad Oluwatimilehin