On the 27th of April, 2025, Remo Stars of Ikenne bagged 200 million naira after sealing their first-ever Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) title following a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Niger Tornadoes at their Remo Stars Stadium. The goal came in the 84th minute courtesy of a fine strike from midfielder Olamilekan Muhammed Adebayo.
The win secured the league title for the Sky Blue Stars, who played 35 games and amassed 68 points, 21 wins, 5 draws, and 9 losses. The victory ended the 25-year-long wait for the domestic title to return to the South-West region of the country since the triumph of Lagos-based Julius Berger in 2000. It also marked the first time a privately owned outfit won the league since 2000.
Based in Ikenne, Ogun State, Remo Stars Football Club was established in 2004 as FC Dender by business mogul Kunle Soname. It was rebranded to Remo Stars FC in 2010, relocating to Remoland. Their journey to the top has been a tortuous one. In 2010, they got promoted to the second tier of Nigerian football, the NNL. By 2016, they played in the top division; in 2018, they went back down to the NNL, and finally, in September 2021, Remo Stars secured promotion again to play in the NPFL.
Many NPFL faithful will probably say they saw this victory coming, having come so close in the preceding seasons. In the 2021/2022 season, the Sky Blue Stars came third on the log, and they finished as first runners-up in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons. But it was not always like this; a quick Google search reveals that they were playing in the Nigerian National League (NNL) just as recently as 2020. The question now is, what changed?
At the heart of Remo Stars’ success is the visionary leadership of the club’s proprietor, Kunle Soname. His commitment to running the club to global standards has laid a solid foundation for consistent growth. It is his investment in top-class facilities and a continuously improving technical crew led by Daniel Ogunmodede that saw them climb into top-flight football in 2021 after Ogunmodede was placed at the helm of affairs of the senior team in 2020. For instance, in a league where road journeys of up to 10 hours are fairly common, one thing that set Remo Stars apart this season was the use of flights to handle long-distance travel. This logistical advantage, though at a cost, meant that the team arrived earlier for away games physically fresh and mentally sharp. In 2021, Ogunmodede had a one-year stint in Portugal as the assistant manager of Clube Desportivo Feirense. In 2022, Ogunmodede returned to Remo Stars and has since led them to back-to-back second-place finishes before finally bringing the title home.
Following his success with his coaching philosophy, termed Ijaball, he was appointed as one of the assistant coaches to Eric Chelle for the Nigerian national football team. Through sheer grit and belief in Ijaball, Ogunmodede and his team were able to pick up important victories both at home and on the road on their way to victory. Perhaps the most season-defining win for the Sky Blue Stars was the comeback win against Abia Warriors in January, after having gone two goals behind. They also won both legs of the famed Southwest derby against the Shooting Stars of Ibadan, beating their noisy neighbors 2-0 at home and then 0-1 at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan.
Daniel Ogunmodede and Kunle Soname are a match made in heaven, combining their forward-thinking standards to bring Remo Stars to where they are today. Ogunmodede led the Remo youth team to second place in the Metro League. His role expanded in 2020 when he became the club’s inaugural Director of Youth Football Development, which ultimately led to the formation of Beyond Limits Football Academy, a Remo Stars B-Team that competes in the NNL. This structure ensures that there is a seamless transition of players from the youth setup into the senior team.
Soname’s investment in raising the structure and standards of his team coincides with the emergence of GTI Asset Management & Trust Ltd. in Nigeria’s football ecosystem. The company unveiled The Nigerian Football Fund (TNFF) in 2023 to enhance and restructure the country’s sports industry, beginning with football. According to Nelson Ine, the project director, the fund is approved and registered by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
It is common knowledge that efficient and consistent funding has been an almost insurmountable issue in Nigerian home-based football, but since the introduction of the fund, statistics have shown that the quality of the NPFL is on the rise. Clubs no longer fear playing away matches, as discipline, integrity, and the quality of officiating has very much improved; the NPFL Disciplinary Committee is better equipped to discipline any erring club or match official. It also helps a great deal that match day officials now receive their entitlements 48 hours before any match.
All of these solutions are only possible as a result of intentional investment by private outfits. The results make the league so much more attractive because they help in reducing government involvement in sports funding, as seen in many well-recognized leagues abroad.
It is clear to Nigerian football clubs and the fans who follow them that Remo Stars’ historic win is a direct product of the power of strategic investment and visionary leadership. It underscores the fact that many other clubs must get themselves private investors if they are to compete at the level the NPFL is rising to. If they don’t, we just may be at the start of a long-term domination of the league by Kunle Soname, Daniel Ogunmodede, and their Sky Blue Stars.