Champs City: Our Journey
2010-2011: The birthing of the Club
The idea of Champs City Football Club was first muted some time in 2010 by its founder, Odinaka Iloh. The earliest documented communication about Champs City Football Club is contained in an email exchange between Odinaka and Tony Okwuasha (his brother-in-law) on 10 August 2010.
Having observed first-hand with frustrations, the difficulties and the chaotic conditions which young talented footballers endured (and continue to endure) in Nigeria, he conceptualized a football talent hunt project, i3T (International Training and Trial Tour), to serve as a springboard for exceptional budding football talents.
In fact, the i3T was designed to be the take-off point for the club and afterward continue to serve as a feedstock for Champs City FC.
While exploring all possible avenues within his capacity to secure the right partnerships to bring i3T to life from 2010 to 2012 without success, Odinaka stayed firm in his resolve to birth a modern and professionally run, youth-oriented football club.
Eventually, on 11 January 2011, Odinaka founded Champs City International Football Club with Dr Peter Ekwueme and Bosun Adedokun as founding directors following the formal incorporation of the club with Nigeria’s Corporate Affairs Commission.
2012: The meeting of minds
An attempt to establish the right structure for the club.
Champs City hosted her first-ever strategy (quasi-board) meeting on 30 August 2012 at Sunfit Hotel, FESTAC, Lagos, to review the Champs City 5-year strategic plan. In attendance were Bode Adeshina, Odinaka Iloh, Tona Madu, Kingsley Maduka, Steve Nwabueze and Bosun Adedoku.
2013: The Affiliation to Lagos State Football Association
In the early formative years of Champs City, we were most encouraged by the high level of commitment the then Lagos State Government and Lagos State Football Association demonstrated towards football (sports) development in the state.
So, we were convinced then that the moment a truly professional football club springs up in Lagos and it’s able to join the Nigeria Premier League, Nigeria’s football industry will never be the same again. And Champs City aimed to be that club.
Consequently, we decided in 2013 to affiliate Champs City with Lagos State Football Association as a non-league football club while establishing Champs City Academy in Enugu.
On 29 December 2014, we were issued our first annual affiliation letter by the Lagos State Football Association.
2013: The talent recruitment
The club’s inaugural talent recruitment exercise took place in Enugu on the 25 and 26 October 2013, at the Rangers FC training pitch. For many reasons, the exercise was adjudged successful.
One, for the fact that it was Champs City’s first time in Enugu for a hunt for gifted football talents that even required some form of registration fee to record a high turnout of over a hundred and twenty young lads, was in itself a huge acceptance of Champs City FC. However, for the reason of registration conditions, only forty-two (42) players were screened resulting in thirteen (13) players being shortlisted for another round of screening exercises.
The next stop was Lagos. the screening exercise in Lagos took place on the 1 November 2013, at the Union Bank Sports Club, Surulere. Only 23 players showed up for the exercise and six of them were shortlisted for further screening.
2013-2014: How we fared while it lasted
Champs City ended 2014 unbeaten! In line with our ambition of building a strong football brand, on and off the pitch, within the shortest possible time, Jude Agada, the team manager, kept to the promise he made to us at inception – to put together formidable team within the first one year of his leadership.
Champs City ran an intensive training regime. Interestingly, between February 2014 to December 2014, it played a total of seven friendly matches without losing any. And the team scored a total of 19 goals and conceded 8, averaging 2.7 goals per match. The results are as follows: Champs City Vs Purple Crown 3:0; Inter FC (U-18) Vs Champs City 3:4; Champs City Vs Asata Utd FC 4:2; Champs City Vs Diego Football Club 5:1; Champs City Vs Purple Crown 1:1; Champs City Vs Disdevt In Afrik 0:0 and; Champs City Vs Dynamos FC 2:1.
Had Champs City obtained the above results in a league set up, it would mean it amassed 17 points out of a maximum of 21, which was a wonderful feat by all standards.
What appears even more remarkable was the fact that within the short period of our existence five players from Champs City (Ekeoma Chukwuebuka, Ebuka Nwodo, Chukwuma Okenwa and Ekene Nnamchi Chisom Chiaha) participated in Nigeria’s national U17 final screening in 2014 out of which one player, our then first goalkeeper, Chisom Chiaha made it to the 2015 FIFA U17 World Cup in Chile, a tournament Nigeria eventually won.
2015: The curtain draws on the first attempt
After a careful review of our journey from 2010 to 2015 vis-à-vis the inherent opportunities, challenges and progress made, we decided to shut down the operations for a few years before returning. That few years turned out to be 9 years of no operations.
2024: The relaunch
Having learnt important lessons from the previous attempt to run Champs City in the most professional way possible in Nigeria’s football industry, we are well prepared to make the comeback laud and a huge success – it’s a new season. This time around the Club is fully based in Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria.
The structure and the operational model of the club are now significantly different.
Structurally, Champs City Sports and Entertainment Ltd now parents Champs City Football Club. In effect, Champs City FC will be the footballing arm of Champs City Sports and Entertainment.
Operationally, our focus in the next 5 years shall be to make Champs City Academy the best and the most functional football academy you can find anywhere in Africa. That journey has already begun.
Without compromising talent recruitment and development, sporting and commercial success, we intend to make local and international community engagement, partnerships, education and aggressive membership drive cardinal to our operations.
