THE Nigeria Football Federation and clubs in the Nigeria Premier Football League have expressed their condolences over the death of former Nigeria international defender and head coach of the Super Falcons, Ismaila Mabo.
The late Mabo passed on in Jos, Plateau State yesterday after a protracted illness.
He was aged 80, according to the NFF.
“The death of Pa Ismaila Mabo came to me as a huge shock. Again, we have lost a great man and an accomplished trainer-of-trainers in the Nigeria Football fraternity, and my heart goes out to his immediate family and the other loved ones he has left behind,” NFF president Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau said.
“Mabo laid down a big marker for other coaches when he steered the Super Falcons to the quarter-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in the USA in 1999. Yet, he was simple, humble and humane. We will miss him, but we are consoled that he left giant footprints in the sands of time and pray that God will grant him eternal rest.”
NPFL and Nigeria National League clubs also mourned the passing of the legendary former player and coach, including ABS of Ilorin, who wrote: “The management of Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC has commiserated with Mighty Jets FC of Jos, over the death of one of its finest defenders in the history of the club and Chairman, Alhaji Ismaila Mabo.”
Mabo, a talented defender, started as a schoolboy international with the Nigeria academicals team and went on to represent the country at full international level.
He starred for Mighty Jets of Jos and was part of that club’s famous squad of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Mabo coached the Super Falcons to their most successful FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States of America in 1999 when they reached the quarter-finals.
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