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Nigeria’s oldest surviving Federation Cup-winning captain, Thanni Biliaminu, recently honoured by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), now features prominently in the newly released Road to Morocco documentary.
The documentary is a reflective piece charting the Super Eagles’ journey in pursuit of a fourth Africa Cup of Nations crown.
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At 80, Biliaminu is more than a symbol of the past; he is a living thread to the roots of Nigerian football.
In 1956, he captained Plateau FC to Federation Cup glory, a time when footballers juggled playing with full-time jobs, and matches were followed via radio commentary and street gossip.
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That legacy came full circle during the 2024/25 Federation Cup final at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, where the NFF honoured him in a moving ceremony during halftime.
Officials from the National Sports Commission presented him with commemorative plaques and monetary gifts in recognition of his enduring contribution to the development of the game in Nigeria.
His story, however, stretches far beyond trophies and tributes. Biliaminu features in the opening episode of Let’s Do It Again, the first instalment of the Road to Morocco documentary series.
In it, he offers a rare, first-person account of football’s early days in the country and provides perspective on Nigeria’s 1980 Africa Cup of Nations triumph, a moment he witnessed not from the pitch but from the stands, as a proud elder statesman.
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“I remember the noise that day in Surulere,” he says in the film. “We had waited too long for something to celebrate. That team gave the people a reason to believe.”
Biliaminu’s appearance is not a ceremonial inclusion. It is a necessary link, reminding a younger generation that before Atlanta ’96 and Tunisia ’94, there was a generation that played for nothing but the crest. Men who laid the stones so others could walk a clearer path.
🎥 Watch episode one of Road to Morocco here
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