Kano Pillars Football Club is a Nigerian professional
football club based in
Kano, northwestern Nigeria. They play in the
Nigeria Professional Football League, the first-tier division in Nigerian football. Their play their home games at
Sani Abacha Stadium. Kano Pillars FC was founded in 1990, the year the professional association football league started in Nigeria, and it's also among the oldest clubs in Nigerian history alongside
Bendel Insurance and
Enugu Rangers.It was an amalgamation of three amateur clubs in
Kano State.
History
Founded in 1990, by Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, former chairman of
Nigeria Football Association and former sports commissioner of Kano, from the combination of WRECA FC, Kano Golden Stars and Bank of the North FC, Kano Pillars achieved outstanding success by winning the 2007–08 Nigerian Premier League. Kano Pillars produced players like
Abiodun Baruwa who has since played for Swiss, Austrian, Welsh and British Clubs and
Sani Kaita who later plays for
Sparta Rotterdam in the
Netherlands. Another Prominent player is
Ahmed Garba 'Yaro Yaro' who later plays for
AB in
Denmark and a notable player from Kano Pillars FC is
Ahmed Musa who played for
Leicester City in the
English Premier league after joining from
CSKA Moscow. It was registered as a limited liability company with the
Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria, and then registered with the
Nigeria Football Association (NFA) as a professional football club. The Kano Pillars drew an average home league attendance of 10,000 in the 2016 league season.[citation needed]
In the 2020/2021 NPFL season, Kano Pillars were fined a whopping sum of ₦7,500,000.00 for failing to follow the orders of the LMC and NFF, which prohibited fans from viewing live games in the stadium. Fans disrupted a top table clash between Akwa United and Kano Pillars. The game ended 0–0 after it was concluded the following day.[2]
They were relegated from NPFL on 16 July 2022 following the confirmation of a verdict against them for the deduction of 3 points, despite an appeal which the NFF committee disregarded against their complaint.
The verdict on them was a penalty for what their former chairman did to match officials in their encounter with Dakkada FC[3]
2009 Champions League
They are also nicknamed "Ahly Killers" as they scored 2 magnificent goals in
Egypt and drew with
Al Ahly Cairo in Egypt 2–2 and 1–1 in Nigeria, so the Ahly Killers went to the Group stage in the
African Champions League on the away goals rule. They made it to the semi-finals before being eliminated against fellow Nigerian team
Heartland.
Malik Jabir (2008–) (Technical Adviser)
Ladan Bosso (2011)
Ivo Sajh (2009)