WAFCON 2004-winning coach, Izilein dies at 81

Godwin Izilein, an ex-international and one of Nigeria’s most accomplished football coaches, on Wednesday died in Benin City, the Edo State capital aged 81, The PUNCH reports.

It was learnt that Izilein, who led the Super Falcons to win the 2004 WAFCON in Johannesburg, died after “battling abdominal issues.”
A member of the Izilein family, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The PUNCH that Izilein, who also coached the Golden Eaglet at the African U-17 Championship in 2005, said he died in a hospital in Benin.

Media Officer of Edo State-owned Bendel Insurance Kehinde Osagiede confirmed the news.

“He died today (Wednesday) after a brief illness. He was a former Insurance coach who gave everything to discovering and nurturing football talents, both male and female, in Nigeria. The club (Insurance) is saddened by his death,” Osagiede said.

Regarded as one of the country’s best indigenous coaches, Izilein guided the Falcons to their sixth Women’s Africa Cup of Nations glory in South Africa in 2004 in controversial circumstances.

After their continental triumph in South Africa, protesting Falcons players insisted on getting their camp allowances and winning bonuses in Johannesburg before the trip back home, but angry federation officials believed the girls were instigated by Izilein to down tools.

The then Ibrahim Galadima-led Nigeria Football Association board refused to pay Izilein his entitlements — $12,000 — after the protest, with successive boards also reneging on payment 20 years after, until his demise.

Agile and outspoken until his death, Izilein during his last interviews with The PUNCH, pleaded with the Nigeria Football Federation to pay his owed allowances.

“Since 2004 that they have owed me, I have not heard from the NFF,” Izilein told Sunday PUNCH June 2023.
“It’s a pity that I may not get the money again. It’s over 19 years that the NFF has yet to pay me the $12,000 and the N2m promised me by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

“What is my offence, since they refused to pay me my money? I did not do anything wrong. The girls said they were not coming back to Nigeria because they were owed by the NFF. I was on my knees begging them, I did not care if they were my daughters.

“I told them that a different meaning would be read into this action. It is easy to say the coaches are responsible and that was exactly what it turned out to be but it’s not fair to me and I feel very bad.”
At club level, the 81-year-old also managed local sides NNB FC and Bendel Insurance.