Nigeria’s foremost polo club, El-Amin, celebrated another milestone of dominance in Nigeria’s scene for 29 years at the just concluded 2024 Minna Polo Tournament.
The tournament which was hosted by the Niger State government pitched most of the biggest names in Nigerian polo and an impressive assemblage of teams from across the country, was unique in many ways.
The biggest roar of the polo festival came from the Kings of Nigerian high-goal polo, the EL-Amin team that extended their IBB Cup supremacy and added three of the four major prizes at stake for effect, to celebrate their three decades of polo successes in style.
EL-Amin made it look easy as they retained their cherished IBB Cup and the Abdulsalami Cup respectively in their traditional sublime displays and won the Governors’ Cup.
EL-Amin’s latest addition, the Phoenix loaded with their second-generation players, won the Aisha Babangida Cup on their tournament debut to provide the electricity that provided the celebration of the milestone of achievements for a long time.
“I’m proud of the last 29 years. It has been an unbelievable journey,” Babangida who is the President of Kaduna Polo Club said with pride. “I’m not too sure it’s the end yet. There is a lot to happen with the EL-Amin team.
“When we started, we were trying to get a strong team, good horses, and good care in terms of support, but we were not able to do that and every tournament we went to, we were beaten and we had to sit back and reassess the whole situation.” Babangida opens up in a chat.
The result of that reassessment is that from 1999 when they won their first Georgian Trophy title, the fortunes of El-Amin have changed to what it is today.
Is the EL-Amin polo team the greatest ever? That question was asked by fans and experts across the world about the Kaduna-based polo lords during their 25th anniversary, the answer is an emphatic yes as Mohammad Babangida and all-conquering polo kings mark their 29 years of high-wired Nigerian polo scene.
Founded by Babangida in 1995. That, in truth, doesn’t confer the club with a long history, but their trail-blazing achievements have been nothing short of phenomenal.
Since making its debut in Nigeria’s polo scene, EL-Amin has won every conceivable tournament and trophy on sight, making it not only Nigeria’s best and dominant team but one of the finest outfits in the world as well.
A peep into its trophy house proves just how massive and impressive its laurel haul has been over the past two decades. With Ibrahim Mohammed and Bello Buba as the other key players, EL-Amin has won the prestigious Georgian Cup a record fifteen times.
It remains the only team to have won all high-goal cups across Nigeria, which include the IBB Cup, Majekodunmi Cup, Emir of Katsina Cup, Nigerian Cup, General Hassan Cup, and Rubicon Turf Polo crown in Abuja, in addition to hauling laurels outside the country.
EL-Amin is the first and only African team to play in the prestigious Dubai Gold Cup series in 2009, and the Al-Habtoor Cup Challenge in Dubai.
Mohammad Babangida, as national team captain, led the Nigerian Polo Eagles to the Federation of International Polo (FIP) World Cup tournament in Malaysia in June 2011 and the Nations Cup of polo in South Africa.
Amidst this milestone celebration, the trophy photographs, and the praise for players and patrons, what one must not forget is the incredible turnaround in fortunes that the Kaduna polo kings managed to pull off within and outside the country.
Not only is El–Amin Nigeria’s best polo team, but the team has become a brand whose incredible success has not only earned and enhanced its fan base, but has attracted more people to the sport itself.
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