The Nigerian national team before the start of their 1998 FIFA World Cup match against Bulgaria on June 19, 1998 (Photo by Lutz Bongarts/Bongarts/Getty Images)
1989 was a pivotal year in global history, one filled with political upheaval, societal transformation, and technological advancement. F.W. de Klerk was elected as South Africa’s State President, marking the start of a gradual process which ended the apartheid system and allowed Nelson Mandela to go from prison to the nation’s highest office. The apartheid system wasn’t the only thing that came crumbling down: the Berlin Wall was also dismantled, paving the way for the reunification of Germany. A revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements and mass strikes swept across the world, with protesters in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Romania helping to free their countries from the shackles of their communist regimes. Brazil enjoyed their first direct presidential election in three decades after the end of their military dictatorship, whilst Alfredo Stroessner’s 35-year tyranny in Paraguay came to an end following a coup d’état. The first commercial Internet service providers surfaced this year, as well as the first written proposal for the World Wide Web and the first Internet connections for New Zealand, Japan, and Australia.
Over in Nigeria, a different kind of change was taking place. At 18 years of age, Mutiu Adepoju was preparing to leave Africa for the first time in his life and start a new professional journey in Europe.
The Setback That Sparked a Comeback
Adepoju was born on December 22, 1970, in Ibadan, 11 months after the end of the Nigerian Civil War, which saw more than 2 million Biafran citizens die from starvation due to the Nigerian naval blockade. The second-born child of a family of eight, he enjoyed a tranquil childhood and was able to balance his academic studies with a growing passion for The Beautiful Game.
After leading the Cocoa Research Institute Primary School to footballing success, Adepoju would impress for Prospect High School in the prestigious Principals’ Cup. However, his breakthrough would come in 1985 during the National Sports Festival in Kwara State, where his eye-popping technical finesse and goal-scoring prowess earned him a call-up to the youth national team. Adepoju looked set to compete in the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Canada, only to be dropped from the squad right before the tournament. Believing that his club Femo Scorpions had engineered his exclusion so that he could remain put in Nigeria and play domestic football for them, Adepoju was crestfallen and considered abandoning his footballing career before it even began.
“Instead of going back to Femo Scorpions, I went straight home from Lagos and came to Ibadan,” stated Adepoju in an exclusive RG interview. “I was so angry and told my parents that I’m not going to play football anymore. My dad told me that this was not possible, this is what you like to do the most, and you shouldn’t give up just because of this disappointment. He told me to go back to my club, continue playing, and you will see that when the time comes, you’re going to be invited. That was the best possible advice I could have received. I was feeling down, but these words made me a lot stronger. That advice from my dad was the turning point. You shouldn’t give up, you should continue working hard and make sure you get invited again.”
“That period taught me a lot of lessons and improved me and made me stronger. I believed that I was working very hard, and I realized that I had to work even harder. I had to improve my game, and after that moment, I was never dropped from the national team, and I never looked back,” he added.
“My dad is no longer with me, but I always remember this advice from him and always thank him for this.”
That same night, Adepoju headed back to Femo Scorpions and started training harder than ever. He started playing for Shooting Stars Sports Club in the second division before heading to Julis Berger, and he did enough to earn a return to the national team set-up, scoring 6 goals in 8 games and helping them beat Zaire, Lesotho, Ivory Coast, and Mali en route to their fourth consecutive African Youth Championship title. One month after thrashing Mali in the final, Adepoju was boarding a flight to Saudi Arabia, where he would contest the FIFA World Youth Championship.
From the Desert to the Bernabéu
The tournament kicked off on February 16, 1989, with the hosts opening the scoring early on in Riyadh, only for Adepoju to level proceedings after the break, whilst Christopher Ohen completed the comeback win in the final minutes. Nigeria proceeded to lose 1-0 to Portugal before holding Czechoslovakia to a 1-1 draw, just about enough to see them advance to the knockout round. In the quarterfinal, Nigeria were completely eviscerated in Dammam by a high-flying Soviet Union side that had won all three of their group stage matches. By the time that Sergei Kiriakov made it 4-0 in the 58th minute, it seemed a mere formality that Adepoju would be heading back home empty-handed.
And yet, instead of bowing out of the competition, Nigeria chose to dig deep and fight back. The Golden Eaglets would score four goals in the following 26 minutes and storm their way back to a penalty shootout, where all five of their takers (including Adepoju) converted their spot-kicks to secure a 5-3 victory. Thirty-six years later, that victory is still fondly regarded in Nigerian circles as the “Miracle of Dammam.”
Next up, it was time to face off against the United States. The score was level until the 47th minute when Adepoju pounced on an errant clearance, lined up his shot, and smashed the ball into the bottom-right corner. Steve Snow would level proceedings from the penalty spot, but Nigeria would have the last laugh in extra time as Adepoju timed his run to perfection, exploited the space in between the two American defenders, and headed the ball into the back of the net to secure a 2-1 victory. Whilst they would end up losing 2-0 to Portugal in the final, Adepoju’s stellar displays in the Middle East would earn him the interest of various clubs across the European continent.
In the summer of 1989, Adepoju packed his bags and left Nigeria on a permanent basis for the first time in his life. At 18 years of age, he was going to be playing his football in the Spanish capital for one of the biggest franchises in all of sport: Real Madrid.
“Joining Real Madrid was very sweet, it was like a dream come true. I had never traveled outside of my country except for when we went to the U-20 World Cup in Saudi Arabia,” Adepoju explained. “There was a very good atmosphere, and the professionalism and everything else was very new to me, and I felt so delighted to have met so many players at this great club that I had spent so much time hearing about as a youngster…It was a great joy being able to start my professional career there.”
International Glory and Local Heartbreak
Adepoju was able to play matches and practice at the world-renowned Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, whilst he also managed to train with the first team and bump shoulders with some of the finest players and managers in world football. However, he never managed to make it to the highest level and compete for Los Blancos.
LaLiga rules stipulated that a maximum of four foreign players could be registered in the first-team squad, and unfortunately for Adepoju, he found himself behind various blockbuster stars like Hugo Sánchez, Robert Prosinečki, and Gheorghe Hagi in the pecking order. In contrast to his Spanish teammates, who could easily go from Real Madrid Castilla to Real Madrid after a run of impressive performances, Adepoju wasn’t afforded this luxury.
Despite these bureaucratic limitations, Adepoju kept his head up and continued preparing for success, and in August 1990, he was given his senior debut for the Nigerian national team. Two years later, he was called up for the African Cup of Nations, with the Super Eagles beating Senegal, Kenya, and Zaire to reach the semifinals. Adepoju would break the deadlock in the 11th minute, but Ghana came roaring back and prevailed 2-1 to book their ticket to the final — Nigeria would end up defeating Cameroon in the third-place match. Thanks to these stellar displays in Senegal, as well as his constant improvement with Castilla, a slew of Spanish clubs began to cast their attention on Adepoju, including Racing Santander.
Adepoju scored 22 goals in the 1990/91 season to lead Real Madrid Castilla to promotion to the second tier, whilst the following season would see him score a hat-trick in their home match vs. Castilla as well as a goal in their away match vs. Santander. Desperate to return to the top flight, they made their move and acquired Adepoju in the summer of 1992. It worked like a charm: he chipped in with 11 goals in 40 appearances as Santander finished third and defeated Espanyol in the promotion playoffs, returning to the top flight after a six-year absence. And just like that, Adepoju became the third Nigerian to play in the Spanish first division after Nduka Ugbade and Wilfred Agbonavbare.
From National Pride to World Cup Glory
The Nigerian box-to-box midfielder delivered a magnificent 1993/94 campaign by helping his newly promoted side finish eighth in LaLiga, but his biggest exploits would come at the international level, helping the Super Eagles achieve their first Africa Cup of Nations triumph since 1980.
“It’s not easy to become an African champion, and being among the players that won Nigeria’s second AFCON title was very special for me. It was one of the things that I dreamed of growing up, which motivated me to start playing football,” Adepoju said. “The 1992 AFCON was very painful and disappointing because we got so close but got knocked out in the semifinals, but we still had the confidence to be able to go to the 1994 AFCON and go on and win it.”
Two months after that championship, Adepoju would participate in Nigeria’s first-ever FIFA World Cup. Nigeria kicked off their campaign with a 3-0 victory against Bulgaria before losing 2-1 to Argentina, followed by a 2-0 win against Greece. But despite taking an early lead, they would fall to eventual finalists Italy in the Round of 16 courtesy of Roberto Baggio’s extra-time winner.
“Playing at the World Cup and winning the AFCON was a non-negotiable, and we told ourselves that we were going to achieve that. Everybody had the same passion and vision, and we wanted to do something not just for Nigeria but for ourselves and our families,” Adepoju added.
“That’s why this generation was very special, and why people still remember this set of players. I feel so privileged to be part of this team and so happy that I was able to play a very important part in the team.”
Little did he know it, but that would be the last international tournament that he would play in for four years. At the last second, Nigeria withdrew from the 1996 AFCON in South Africa after Mandela condemned Nigeria’s military regime for executing Ogoniland activist Ken Saro-Wiwa — as a result, the Confederation of African Football banned them from participating in the 1998 AFCON.
“It was a very big disappointment, especially after winning the 1994 AFCON. The players were getting into the game and getting to know each other, but we were unable to defend our crown,” said Adepoju. “It was a very painful one because we had the intention of defending our title, and it would have been good for me to compete in five AFCONs, but unfortunately, we missed out due to political reasons.”
Sociedad Stardom and World Cup Redemption
Whilst Adepoju wasn’t able to further his meteoric rise at the international level, he nevertheless continued his promising career in Spain at the club level. After racking up 26 goals in 131 appearances for Santander, Adepoju took his talents to Real Sociedad in 1996, where he would register 8 goals in 97 appearances.
“It was a turning point when I got to Real Sociedad. I was signed on deadline day and immediately started playing,” said Adepoju. “The people, the food, the atmosphere at San Sebastián and everything at this stadium, those were moments which I really loved.”
Having narrowly missed out on European football in his first season at Anoeta, Adepoju helped La Real finish third in 1997/98 and qualify for continental football for the first time in six years. But the cherry on top would come in the summer of 1998, where he returned to the biggest tournament in all of sports. Nigeria looked set for a mauling in their opening match, as Fernando Hierro opened the scoring early on from a free kick. Instead, they roared back and equalized immediately as Garba Lawal fired in a corner kick towards the near post, where Adepoju was there to head home.
Spain retook the lead after the interval via Raúl González, but Nigeria would score two late goals and prevail with a 3-2 win in Nantes, before following that up with a 1-0 win against Bulgaria and a 3-1 loss to Paraguay. After topping Group D, they would face off against Denmark, where their Cinderella run came to an end in a 4-1 demolition.
A Nation’s Hopes and Penalty Heartbreak
He would have to wait a year and a half for his next major tournament, with Nigeria co-hosting the 2000 AFCON alongside Ghana. Adepoju played a pivotal role in midfield as Nigeria beat Tunisia and Morocco and drew to Congo in the group stage, before edging Senegal and South Africa and reaching the final in Lagos. The stage was set for Adepoju to pull off yet another childhood dream: win silverware in his own home country.
Samuel Eto’o broke the deadlock early on from a free kick, whilst Patrick Mboma doubled Cameroon’s lead shortly after. However, Nigeria would pull one back before the break via Raphael Chukwu, and Jay-Jay Okocha pulled them level with a long-range firecracker. With Adepoju pulling the strings from midfield and orchestrating possession, it seemed that Nigeria were on course for a repeat of the “Miracle of Dammam.” Instead, neither team managed to find a goal in the following 75 minutes. It meant that, in order to crown the champion of Africa, a penalty shootout was required. Cameroon would end up prevailing 4-3 to secure their first championship since 1988 — as for Nigeria, they would have to wait another 13 years before adding their third AFCON title.
“Losing the AFCON Final to Cameroon was a very painful experience. The whole team and the whole nation was waiting for us to win, and I felt so bad as I was part of the leaders of the team,” explained Adepoju. “After being banned in 1996 and 1998, it was our intention to win it when we came back in 2000. Looking back now, I believe we did everything possible to win, but then it went to penalties, which is always anybody’s guess."
Zach Lowy is a freelance football journalist who has written for leading outlets like FotMob, BetUS, Apuestas Deportivas, and who has appeared as a radio and television guest for BBC, SiriusXMFC, and various other platforms. After pursuing a global sports journalism degree at George Washington University, Zach has been able to tap into his multilingual background and interview major footballing figures in Spanish and Portuguese as well as operate the weekly podcast 'Zach Lowy's European Football Show' on BET Central.
