Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have hailed former Green Eagles goalkeeper Emmanuel Okala on his 70th birthday.
Okala, a member of the 1980 AFCON-winning squad, clocked 70 on Monday.
In a tweet, Dare said Okala’s contribution to football’s growth was as tall as his height.
“Emmanuel Okala at 70! Congratulations! Happy birthday. One of the very best to ever man the goal posts for Nigeria. You are worth celebrating at 70 years over and over again. Your contributions to the growth of our football is as tall as your height. May you live longer,” Dare tweeted.
NFF Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi in a statement also commended Okala for “his patriotism, discipline, dedication and sense of duty.”
“We all remember the heroic feats and unforgettable deeds of the great Emmanuel Okala. He served Nigeria to the best of his ability and we commend him for his patriotism, discipline, dedication and sense of duty. We wish him a happy Platinum anniversary celebration and pray that he lives many, many more years in good health and in joy,” Sanusi said.
With his imposing 6ft5in height, Okala, fondly called ‘Man Mountain’, earned his first cap for Nigeria in a friendly against Tanzania in Lagos.
He was also in the team that won the All-Africa Games football gold in Lagos in 1973, won bronze at the Africa Cup of Nations in 1978 and finished as runners-up at the All-Africa Games in Algiers four months later, before claiming the AFCON gold on home soil in 1980.
He was named Africa’s best goalkeeper by the Africa Sports Journalists Union in 1975 and was in the Enugu Rangers squad that won the Africa Cup Winners’ Cup in 1977.
