Flamingos Earn N4.5m Reward from Kunle Soname After Six-Goal Haul

The proprietor of Remo Stars and Beyond Limits Football Club, Hon. Kunle Soname, has rewarded Nigeria’s U17 women’s national team, the Flamingos, with N4.5 million following their impressive performance in the second leg of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup qualifier against Guinea.

Soname had made a pledge of N750,000 for every goal scored by the Flamingos during the match played at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne-Remo. The Nigerian side delivered a stunning attacking display, finding the back of the net six times to fulfill the terms of the promise.

The reward, which totalled N4.5 million, was presented to the players in recognition of their outstanding performance and qualification for the final qualifying round of the World Cup race.

Hon. Kunle Soname described the team’s display as exceptional and praised the young players for their discipline, teamwork, and fighting spirit throughout the encounter. He noted that the Flamingos had made the nation proud and deserved every bit of the reward.

The Flamingos entered the second-leg tie holding a commanding 5-0 advantage from the first leg played in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where captain Harmony Chidi netted a superb first-half hat-trick to put Nigeria firmly in control. The emphatic away victory had already placed the Nigerian side on the verge of advancing to the next stage.

In Ikenne-Remo, the team showed no signs of complacency, adding six more goals to their aggregate tally in a dominant home performance. Head coach Akeem Busari had earlier warned his players against taking the Guinean side lightly, stating, “It happens in football because at the time when you are above a team in terms of goal-scoring and equally in performance, complacency will really set in as a human”.

Busari added, “I see Guinea as a team that can still want to fight back. On our side, we still need to give more because we are playing at home. Our fans want to see the beauty of the game, we want to showcase what we have, we want to win excellently”.

The Flamingos’ qualification for the final round brings them a step closer to securing a place at the 2026 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup scheduled to be hosted in Morocco. The team will now prepare for the next phase of the qualifiers as they continue their campaign for continental glory.

Hon. Kunle Soname’s gesture has been widely praised by fans and football stakeholders, with many calling it a welcome motivation for young athletes representing the nation at the international stage.