Team Nigeria defeated the Democratic Republic of Congo 2: 0 to clinch the 2018 Helsinki African Cup which was played at the Töölön Pallokenttä in Helsinki, Finland

The football tournament which started on Monday 23, July 2018, came to an end on Sunday 29th with a lots of funfare as Africans in Diaspora came out in large numbers to watch the grand finale of the annual summer football fiesta.

Team Nigeria opened the scoresheet in the second half after 68th minutes of play with an excellent goal from Ralph Ohaeri and at the 80th minutes, prolific striker, David Umoh, who played for Jippo FC, a first division club in Finland converted a penalty kick.


Team Nigeria’s first match was against Gambia which ended 5:3 in favour of Nigeria, their second match was against Democratic Republic of Congo and they defeated the Francophone team 2:0. Their third match was against Ghana which ended in 1:1, while in their fourth match, Cameroon held them to a 2:2 draw which made them to get to the final.

The third place match was also spectacular as the Cameroonian team defeated the Ghanaian team 2:1 to win the bronze medal.


The Democratic Republic of Congo team won the fair play team of the tournament. Bubba Jibba from Gambia won the highest goal scorer award with 6 goals. A Nigerian player, Arinze Okafor went home with the fair player award which he has won five times consecutively.

The coach of the Nigerian team, Obiora Aniche, a former Udoji United player who once played in China and Saudi Arabia was elated to have won the prestigious African Nations football tournament as a player and coach.


Five teams participated in this year’s tournament; Gambia, Nigeria, Ghana, Congo and Cameroon. The tournament dates back to 1995/96 and in 2009, Sabasy Ndiaye popularly called Sabi, a former Senegalese professional footballer who have lived in Finland for 30 years took over as the President of the Organizing Committee.


Team Nigeria has been the dominant team since it’s inception and in 2013-2016, Nigeria won it. In 2017, due to issues in the Nigerian team they couldn’t retain the cup, Gambian team was crowned winner after defeating Senegal.

At the end of this year’s tournament, Diaspora Reporters, a media firm based in Helsinki, Finland announced their interest in becoming one of the sponsors of the tournament. They are going to support the highest goal scorer award with €150


https://www.diasporareporters.com/breaking-team-nigeria-wins-the-2018-helsinki-african-cup/


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO9x0D3Z39Q

https://www.diasporareporters.com/breaking-team-nigeria-wins-the-2018-helsinki-african-cup/

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ithank God for small Good news

They should pls go back and play Ghana and Cameroun again.

I hate inconclusiveness

why did they have to play AFCON in Finland

Good one