{"id":4748,"date":"2026-05-26T14:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4748"},"modified":"2026-05-26T14:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T13:00:11","slug":"mathematical-wants-appreciation-of-gossage-cup-centenary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2026\/05\/26\/mathematical-wants-appreciation-of-gossage-cup-centenary\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Mathematical\u2019 wants Appreciation of Gossage Cup Centenary<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 26th<\/sup> 2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mathematical\u2019s Football Journey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigerian great, \u2018Mathematical\u2019 Olusegun (better known as Segun) Odegbami was the joint top scorer in the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in the 11th<\/sup> and 12th<\/sup> editions of Africa\u2019s premier international tournament. He shared the honour with the late Phillip Omondi of Uganda and the late Opoku Afriye of Ghana in 1978[1]<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1980 he top-scored again with three goals with Morocco\u2019s Khaled Labied. That proved to be a very special tournament for him and his country \u2013 Africa too \u2013 as it launched Nigeria into Africa\u2019s \u00e9lite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AFCON Joy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nigeria won AFCON for the first time in 1980, repeating the feat in 1994 and 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odegbami was an important cog in the 1980 team \u2013 the vice-captain. He now shares his wisdom on African football. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m a sports consultant and yes, I\u2019m a writer,\u201d Odegbami told me in an exclusive interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AFCON victory made him feel \u201chappy, of course,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was the first time Nigeria would win it and to have been able to do it at the time was a huge<\/em> thing, and yes, it elevated our status in the country to that of firsts. We were the first to do it and that makes us very relevant since then up to now in the scheme of thigs in Nigerian football and Nigerian sport as a whole, so it was a great event in Nigeria and that feeling still sustains up to now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hidden History \u2013 the Gossage Cup<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Olusegun Odegbami<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like many Africans \u2013 even former footballers \u2013 Odegbami was unaware of the continent\u2019s first ever international tournament, the Gossage Cup, which reached its centenary earlier this month \u2013 (for further details see https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2026\/05\/26\/the-gossage-cups-legacy-2\/<\/a> which was published in the magazine recently).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He laughed when asked if he knew about the anniversaries of May 1st<\/sup> and May 3rd<\/sup> 1926. \u201cWell, I have read what you posted,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a great source of information and education for me. Before then, I had no idea and that makes that subject very relevant. As a writer myself; as a historian myself; as one who comments on African football, I think it is a good thing that I came across what you wrote and I\u2019m better informed about that aspect of our football development, our football groove and our football genesis \u2013 genesis of our football.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first edition of the Gossage Cup was played in Nairobi\u2019s Landi Mawe Grounds in 1926 between Kenya and Uganda. Kenya won that edition 2-1 after a replay \u2013 the first match ended in a 1-1 draw. It lasted 40 years and eventually became the CECAFA Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Landi Mawe Grounds, Nairobi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Its centenary deserves to be celebrated, especially as this was the first international tournament in the history of African football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Odegbami Calls for Remembrance of Gossage Cup History<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how important was that anniversary to African football?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, you must appreciate that I was in West Africa and my personal experiences at the time were more limited to West Africa than any other part of Africa, so I didn\u2019t know much about the rest of the continent, particularly central and east Africa. They were not really renowned for their footballing; they were more into athletics in those days, so to learn that the first international match [tournament] actually took place in East Africa is really a great surprise for me, but having said that, if the facts really are put, then it is worth celebrating. It is something that we should observe. It is something that we should bring to the remembrance of everybody, because that\u2019s history. It is history. It is fact. It is figures. It is our past. It is our story and we should tell it, so I sincerely appreciate this knowledge that you have impacted in me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For further information see Segun Odegbami on CECAFA Cup Anniversary at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W69o7Fz7ONA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a> Ghana won the tournament \u2013 their third title \u2013 Uganda finished second and Nigeria was third.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (May 26th 2026) Mathematical\u2019s Football Journey Nigerian great, \u2018Mathematical\u2019 Olusegun (better known as Segun) Odegbami was the joint top scorer [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16],"tags":[88,1763,82,1758,1761,81,292,1760,1762,1756,1224,1227,325],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4748"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4749,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4748\/revisions\/4749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}