Unbeaten Start: Maccabi United Nigeria FA Opens Its Season with Two Draws.
IN AN IMPRESSIVE display of talent, the newly formed Jewish football academy Maccabi United Nigeria FA has opened its first competitive season with two hard-fought draws against well-established teams. In the space of one week, the Abuja-based academy drew 0–0 with Eagle Football Club on Sunday, 27 September, at Jabi, Abuja, and 2–2 with Xriso Sporting FC on Thursday, 1 October, Nigeria’s Independence Day.
It is rare to see a young team take on better-resourced sides and come away unbeaten, and for a club in its first season, the two results are a statement of intent.
A Goalless Battle in Jabi
The opening match took place on a pitch in Jabi, and it was only the first half of a long day for the squad. After the final whistle, true to their tradition of service volunteering, the players went straight to Jabi Lake for the 9th Annual Reverse Tashlich, clearing plastic and waste from the lake.
Reverse Tashlich turns an ancient custom on its head. On Rosh Hashanah, Jews traditionally perform Tashlich, casting crumbs of bread into flowing water as a symbol of casting away their sins. Reverse Tashlich does the opposite: instead of throwing something into the water, participants take out what does not belong there, clearing plastic, litter, and debris from beaches, rivers, lakes, and shorelines. Led by the marine conservation organization Repair the Sea, the global initiative brings Jewish communities together every High Holiday season, and in 2025 alone, hundreds of teams from dozens of countries took part.
The fixture against Eagle Football Club, one of Abuja’s grassroots clubs, goes on record as the first club match in Maccabi United’s history. The new academy held firm on that historic day, and the match ended goalless. Keeping a clean sheet in a debut match is no small achievement for an academy only weeks old.
An Independence Day Derby
Four days later, on Nigeria’s Independence Day, the Maccabi United academy faced Xriso Sporting FC at Kuduru Army Barracks as part of the second Sukkot Festival football match fixtures.
The festive but competitive match felt like a local derby, as the two teams train at the same facility. Coach Shlomo Yaakov is also team manager at Xriso Sporting FC, and the two clubs are more partners than rivals, sharing facilities and personnel. That partnership has given the new Jewish academy access to professional-level training infrastructure from day one. All four goals came in a heavily contested first half, and the sides went into the break level at 2–2. Neither team could find a winner after the restart, and the scoreline held to the final whistle.
More than a Team
Maccabi United Nigeria FA draws its players from Jewish communities across Nigeria, with most of the current squad coming from Gihon Hebrew Synagogue in Abuja, a community pursuing a model of aliyah in the digital age. They are not just teammates; they are a community. Before a ball was kicked, the squad was already built together: Maccabi United Nigeria FA kicked off its season with a sukkah in Abuja, raising the synagogue’s sukkah for Sukkot, and after Shabbat, on the day of their very first match, they walked off the pitch and onto the shores of Jabi Lake to clean it for this year’s Reverse Tashlich.
The team already brands the name of Kulanu on its jersey. As a nonprofit organization based in the United States, Kulanu supports returning, isolated, and emerging Jewish communities around the world. The players have also been featured on the African Jewish Voices and Kulanu media channels, bringing their story to a global audience.
Two draws in five days is a good start for a new academy facing better-resourced teams, and only the beginning for Maccabi United for the season.
Two Down, Twenty-Two to Go
The club’s first-year plan is ambitious: about 24 matches, through a mix of local tournaments and regular training matches with Xriso Sporting FC and other teams. The aim is simple: playing time and match fitness.
“If you’re aspiring to go to the MAC or the Maccabi Games in Israel, then you need plenty of playing time and fitness,” said Coach Yaakov.
The long-term ambitions are bigger still: to join the Maccabi African Confederation, the continental vision of Maccabi South Africa chairman Cliff Garrun, whose many years of leadership were honoured this year with a Yakir Maccabi Award; to compete at the Maccabi Games in Israel; and to represent Nigeria’s Jewish community on the world stage.
Furthermore, the academy also aims to offer a real pathway for Jewish footballers in Nigeria, with professional coaching, regular competition, and a sense of belonging for players and staff alike. The organisation is actively seeking partnerships with scouts in Europe, Asia, and Africa to create opportunities for trials and placements at international clubs.
With the talent available in Nigeria, the world may soon witness the rise of Jewish footballers from Nigeria. Two matches down, twenty-two to go, and every match a step closer to Israel.
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