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Nigeria's pioneer soccer team goalkeeper passes on

Xinhua, December 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

Nigeria's first national soccer team goalkeeper Sam Ibiam has passed on and his interment is underway, family sources said on Thursday.

The veteran goalie, nicknamed "The Black Magnet", died on Wednesday at the age of 90, his first son, Emeka Ibiam told Xinhua.

The deceased served as Nigeria's pioneer goalkeeper in the country's first soccer team known as the "1949 UK Tourists".

In 1987, he bagged a national sports award for "Sports Heroes and Heroines of Yesteryears" for conceding only five goals in his nine years of service to Nigeria till he retired from international football in 1958 to take up a domestic coaching career.

He was in charge as coach of various domestic league football clubs for seven years, from 1960 to 1967. Endi