Ejikeme MrFootball: The Masterful Football Historian

As schoolboys in 1986, we often risked disciplinary action just to break dormitory rules and gather around to hear you speak. Your football analyses scintillating, incisive, statistics-driven, and richly entertaining were more than worth it.

You made Mexico ‘86 come alive, decoding the mystery and magic of football in ways that captivated young minds and sparked lifelong passions.

The moniker Mr. Football is not just a nickname; it is a deserved title for a man who has become a towering authority in football history. Ejikeme is widely regarded as Nigeria’s foremost football historian and rightly so.

He is the first Nigerian to author a comprehensive 520-page chronicle of the FIFA World Cup, covering every tournament from the inaugural event in Uruguay in 1930 to the present day.

This monumental work has earned global respect, with FIFA recognising its credibility and scholarly value by placing it in their prestigious library at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. That’s not just an honour it’s a legacy.

At home, your impact extends far beyond football commentary. Through years of public service, especially as Director of Sports in Abia State, you brought excellence, discipline, responsiveness, and vision to the fore.

You mentored a generation, not only in sports but in the value of precision, responsibility, and purposeful living.

You are not just a living encyclopedia of football history you are an institution, a custodian of our collective memory of the beautiful game. History will be kind to you because you have written it meticulously and masterfully.