Drama in Akure as FC Ebedei quit pitch and NLO game abandoned

By Emmanuel Chinedu

Reports from Akure state that FC Ebedei made a very serious 2026 Nationwide League One (NLO) playoff match against Yewa FA on Saturday morning by abandoning the game at 0-0 in Akure.

According to the reports, the game kicked off at 11:00 a.m. and remained goalless until the 40th minute. That’s when Yewa FA goalkeeper, Olalere Ridwan, was injured in a collision, which left him unconscious and needing urgent medical attention on the pitch.

Despite receiving treatment, Ridwan could not continue. By the 45th minute, his backup had been cleared by the Reserve Referee to come on, and the game was set to resume. Instead, FC Ebedei dramatically walked off the field and refused to return.

Match officials waited the mandatory 15 minutes stipulated by NLO rules, but Ebedei did not reappear. Reports say the players left on the instruction of club owner, Barrister Churchill Oliseh, exiting without the referee’s signal. Minutes later, the team left the stadium completely.

Yewa FA dismissed claims that the match was abandoned because of Ridwan’s injury and released an official statement.

The statement reads, “Contrary to reports, the game was not abandoned due to a collision between our goalkeeper and an FC Ebedei player. Our second-choice goalkeeper had already been cleared by the Reserve Referee to replace the injured keeper and the game was ready to continue.

“Therefore, the narrative that the match was abandoned for that reason is false. FC Ebedei simply walked off the pitch for no reason,” the statement read.

The official match report and eyewitness accounts confirm that the abandonment resulted from FC Ebedei’s decision to leave the field and decline to continue, rather than from the injury incident itself.