Coach Ibrahim Salisu Ibrahim of the BUK Stallions from Bayero University Kano has promised to put a stop to the quest of UNIMAID Desert Warriors to retain the Higher Institutions Football League (HiFL) Trophy that they won in 2021.
HiFL, organised by Pace Sports and supported by StanbicIBTC, Bold, Lagos Internal Revenue Services and Indomie Noodles, is in its fourth active season.
Coach Salisu speaking on Tuesday said now is the turn of his team to savour the taste of glory by winning the 2022 HiFL Season after four years of participation.
The first leg of the game between both sides will take place today at the University of Maiduguri Sports Complex.
Despite playing the first leg away, Coach Salisu remains confident. “We are not worried that they (UNIMAID Desert Warriors) are the defending champions. We are looking forward to changing the mentality, we are not afraid of the UNIMAID Desert Warriors of Maiduguri,” Salisu said.
Salisu added “correct me if I’m wrong but in the history of this competition, any team that beats BUK goes on to win the league for that season. Now we want to beat whoever comes our way and go ahead to win. So we feel that once we beat the Desert Warriors, we would be okay,” he assured.
However, Coach Paul Ciroma of the Desert Warriors had disclosed that his side is unperturbed about the games with BUK, a familiar underdog. “BUK are no strangers to us, we played them twice last season during the group stage and the knockout stages and we won the duels. We are looking forward to doing the same thing this time around”, coach Ciroma reassured.
Speaking on the readiness of his players for the contest, Coach Ciroma said, “UNIMAID Desert Warriors are the defending Champions. We are preparing and would be ready for BUK Stallions”.
Last season, UNIMAID Desert Warriors secured a 5-3 aggregate win over BUK Stallions in the round of 16 on their way to winning the trophy in a grueling duel with the AAUA Luminaries from the Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex in Lagos.