DREAMS DO COME TRUE: The Meteoric Rise of Leventis United of Ibadan

DREAMS DO COME TRUE: The Meteoric Rise of Leventis United of Ibadan

History is filled with many stories of unusual moments, the stunning appearance of Leventis United FC of Ibadan in the final of African winners’ cup against the continental giants, Al Ahly FC of Cairo is one of such.

This ‘shocking’ appearance of a club from the Third-tier division of Nigerian football league at such height of a very prestigious continental competition tinkled the curiosity of African sports’ historians to research on this “unknown” club.

This particular event was arguably one of the most dramatic moments in the history of African club’s football.

This 1985 season of the African Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won narrowly by Al Ahly in a two-legged final victory over this “unknown” Leventis United. It was the eleventh season that the tournament took place for the winners of each African country's domestic cup. Thirty-five sides entered the competition, with Racing Club de Bobo withdrawing before the 1st leg of the first round.

Leventis United’s success trajectory remains mind boggling. 1984 Division 3 Champions in the Nigerian league, FA Cup Winners same year, which qualified them to represent Nigeria at the 1985 African winner’s cup where they roared all the way to final to the utter dismay of the whole continent.

Then after gaining promotion in 1985 to Division two where they were Champions, the next year Leventis was promoted to the First Division after winning the second division with an undefeated record, the first of such feat in the history of Nigerian football.

they went straight to win the double after winning the Nigerian premier league and FA cup in 1987 (third straight title in 3 different divisions of the league).

They also reached the quarterfinals of the 1987 African champions cup before they bowed out to Al-Hilal Club of Omdurman. The team was like a whirlwind between 1983 to 1987, appearing from nowhere and blowing all the known names apart both domestically in Nigeria and in the Africa continent.

Frankly, no team could really compete with them.

Since in nature, no motion happens without a force behind it; what then is the administrative and financial model behind the extraordinary success of this unique club within such a very short window?.

Leventis United was a football team based in Ibadan, Nigeria. It was founded in 1982 as an amalgam of clubs from Oyo State, South West Nigeria, backed by the Royal Nigeria Carpet company; a subsidiary of Greek corporation, Leventis Group.

With John Mastoroudes as general manager, the team quickly built itself into one of the best financed sides in Nigeria.

John Masteroudes found expression of his passion in Football, Leventis United under his watch was like Chelsea in the Roman Abramovic era , a product of passion and good thinking, driven by adequate money. Leventis however did not have the consistent winner mentality , technicality and futuristic vision of Abramovic .

John Masteroudes a son-in-law of one of this Leventis family after an organisational restructuring of the Leventis Group of companies landed in Ibadan.

He formed the football club with the best players he could find in Nigeria he also doubled as the Technical Director and engaged a Coach, Joseph Ladipo aka Jossy Lad. Jossy Lad was not particularly involved in the recruitment of the players and stars in the squad. it was arguably the most talented assemblage of Nigerian players in one squad ever. Save for the goalkeeper position in which he had only Edward Ansah the Ghanaian International, every outfield position he had as international players were second choices for their countries.

The squad was good enough to win everything but failed against Al-Hilal Club of Sudan who silenced the Ibadan crowd with continental style football. The Sudanese attack was by the way led by a certain Ghanaian International named George.

Clearly, a lot has been written about this football club that dominated the Nigerian footballing landscape in the mid-1980s, While a lot of credit is given to—rightly so—John Mastroudes, not much credit is given to the Team Manager of the club, George Hassan. George Hassan was a much-traveled ex-international who played for almost every major club in Nigeria (except Rangers International). He was a talented but fiery player in his playing days. He originally wanted to be a player at lower-league Leventis United before John Mastroudes felt he would be better off as a team manager because of his experience. Hassan was instrumental in signing Abdullahi Alausa and Wole Odegbami from Ibadan-based clubs, Leotis Boateng, Felix Agbonifo, Henry Ogboe and Matthew Onyema from Bendel Insurance, Friday Ekpo from Abiola Babes, and James Etokebe from Calabar Rovers. He also used his connection at the Bembo camp of the Flying Eagles in Ibadan to sign players in the Flying Eagles camp: Taju Disu, Segun Olukanmi, Chibuzor Ehilegbu, Kingsley Onye, Andrew Uwe, and Paul Okoku. Chief M.K.O. Abiola held court at Premier Hotel in Ibadan, where some Flying Eagles players met with him and convinced them to sign for Abiola Babes. George Hassan knew Leventis United could not match the spending powers of Abiola Babes. Still, he sold the Leventis United project to many players who chose Leventis United over Abiola Babes. When Abiola Babes tried to poach four Leventis United players (one of whom was Bunmi Adigun), not only did Hassan and John Mastroudes talk these players into returning the money that they had collected from Abiola Babes, Hassan followed these players to Abeokuta to make sure that the money was returned.

Barely 23 months after its establishment, Leventis United won the Ibadan Association League without losing a match, qualified to play in the National League Division Three, won the Olubadan Cup, and the Oyo State Challenge Cup. However, they were beaten by DIC Bees of Kaduna in the quarter-finals of the National Challenge Cup in 1983.

Although they lost four regulars—Segun and Femi Olukanmi, Paul Okoku, and Chibuzor Ehilegbu—in early 1984, they still romped to a record of 30 wins in the National Division Three and were promoted to Division Two.

On record, Leventis United, then in the Third Division, were the first team to win the Champion of Champions Cup, aka the Charity Cup. They defeated Rangers International of Enugu 2-1. They also won the Ibadan Football Association League without losing a game; they won the Lekan Salami Cup, the Olubadan Cup, and the State Challenge Cup. They won the Challenge Cup in 1984, did a league and cup double in 1986, and won the league title in 1987. Leventis United was disbanded in 1987 over issues the club had with the football federation over revenue sharing. George Hassan passed away on Saturday, September 4, 2021, in his Moniya, Ibadan home.

Culled from Moor Sportz’s archive, a story written by Godwin Dudu-Orumen (Esq) on 11 October 2023