By Mustapha Salisu
Former Super Falcons coach Ismaila Mabo has been confirmed dead early Monday morning by his brother Mansir Salihu Nakande.
The former Nigeria’s national women’s team coach passed away at the age of 80.
“The death of our elder brother, Ismaila Mabo, occurred in the early hours of this Monday, after a protracted illness,” Leadership quoted him.
Nakande explained that the funeral prayer for the late Coach will hold later on Monday.
Mabo’s contributions to Nigerian both as a player and as a coach are monumental.
He is credited with opening the doors to the national team for many schoolboys, including Tony Igwe, Peter Anieke, Sam Garba Okoye, and Eyo Essien.
Also, top on his list of achievements, Mabo led the Nigerian women’s team, the Super Falcons, to their best-ever outing at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999, where they reached the quarter-finals.
He also led Nigeria to the 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics.
Tributes have been pouring in for the veteran coach. Mabo’s death is the second high-profile demise of a prominent coach in Nigeria’s women’s football space this year.
Also, early January, Nigerians were shocked with the death of Dan Evumena, a former Falconets coach whose close associates said he died after from an undisclosed illness.
