ECOWAS Summit Football Tournaments


Tournament for Western African nations, held twice on the occasion of an ECOWAS heads of state summit. ECOWAS abbreviates Economic Community Of Western African States (in French: CEDEAO, Communauté Economique Des Etats de l'Afrique de l'Ouest). The same countries organised several biannual tournaments for the CEDEAO Cup between 1977 and 1991.


Palmares

Year  Winners                 Venue
1990  Burkina Faso            Bakau (Gambia)
1991  Nigeria                 Lagos (Nigeria)

ECOWAS Summit Football Tournament 1990, Gambia

Held at the Independence Stadium in Bakau on the occasion of the 13th ECOWAS heads of state summit.

The original format was two semi-finals, a final, and a third place match, with Mali being the
other entrant, but it seems that Mali did not participate. Ghana was represented by its national
Olympic team.

27-May-90 Gambia        0-0  Burkina Faso  [3-4 pen]
28-May-90 Gambia        0-1  Ghana
30-May-90 Burkina Faso  1-0  Ghana

 1.Burkina Faso  2  1  1  0  1- 0  3
 2.Ghana         2  1  0  1  1- 1  2
 3.Gambia        2  0  1  1  0- 1  1

ECOWAS Summit Football Tournament 1991, Nigeria

Held at the National Stadium in Lagos on the occasion of the 14th ECOWAS heads of state summit. The summit
itself was held at Abuja, but the football was played in Lagos due to a lack of facilities at Abuja.  This
was the second such football tournament, the first having being played on the occasion of the 1990 summit
in Banjul.

The tournament was ostensibly for senior national teams, but Ghana sent an under-23 team, while the host
Nigeria fielded a home-based "Super Eagles" squad; sources differ on whether to consider the matches as
part of the Nigerian national team's record.  Burkina Faso reportedly sent an unspecified club team.

Group stage

27-Jun-91 Nigeria       3-0  Burkina Faso
            [Note: Burkina Faso protested the playing of the old Upper Volta national anthem.]
27-Jun-91 Ghana         2-2  Mali
28-Jun-91 Ghana         3-2  Gambia
28-Jun-91 Mali          3-1  Burkina Faso
29-Jun-91 Ghana         1-0  Burkina Faso
29-Jun-91 Nigeria       2-0  Gambia
30-Jun-91 Gambia        0-0  Burkina Faso
30-Jun-91 Nigeria       2-0  Mali
 1-Jul-91 Gambia        ppd  Mali
 1-Jul-91 Nigeria       ppd  Ghana

 1.NIGERIA       3  3  0  0  7- 0  6
 2.GHANA         3  2  1  0  6- 4  5
 3.Mali          3  1  1  1  5- 5  3
 4.Gambia        3  0  1  2  2- 5  1
 5.Burkina Faso  4  0  1  3  1- 7  1

The original format was that the top two teams would play a final and there would also be a
third place playoff match.  However, heavy rain and flooding in Lagos forced the postponement
of the last round of fixtures for two days, so the organizers decided to proceed directly to
the final and playoff with (coincidentally) the same pairings as the last two group fixtures.

Third place match
 3-Jul-91 Gambia        2-1  Mali

Final
 3-Jul-91 Nigeria       0-0  Ghana

In the 80th minute of the final, an announcement was made that the organizers had now changed
their previous decision, and that if the match remained a draw then there would be no extra time
or penalties, but the results of these last two matches would instead revert to count as group
stage results.  Ghana protested and there was substantial dissent among spectators.
Gambia, who had already been given the bronze medals, was now placed 4th in the table; the
organizers belatedly realized their error and asked the Gambians to give the medals to Mali but
this request reportedly "fell on deaf ears."

Final table:

 1.Nigeria       4  3  1  0  7- 0  7
 2.Ghana         4  2  2  0  6- 4  6
 3.Mali          4  1  1  2  6- 7  3
 4.Gambia        4  1  1  2  4- 6  3
 5.Burkina Faso  4  0  1  3  1- 7  1

About this document

Sources included: "Daily Times" (Lagos), "New Nigerian" (Kaduna), "People's Daily Graphic" (Accra), "Ghanaian Times" (Accra), "Chukastats I: History, Records, and Statistics of Nigerian Football" (Chuka Onwumechili).

Prepared and maintained by Neil Morrison for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Neil Morrison
Last updated: 19 Aug 2020

(C) Copyright Neil Morrison and RSSSF 2020
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.