On the eve of the 40th anniversary of the death of Nigeria’s iconic footballer, Teslim Balogun, nicknamed Thunder, the Nigeria Football Federation has hailed the late player’s pioneering efforts, dynamism and commitment to fatherland.

 Born Tesilimi Balogun to a cricketer father,  Oseni Ali Balogun, and to a business-woman mother, Thunder was Nigeria’s first authentic goalscoring hero and did magical things with the ball, leading his different clubs to triumphs in the then Challenge Cup competition and being a member of the Senior National Team between 1949 and 1955.

 Teslim Balogun, after whom the stadium adjacent to the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos was named, was Nigeria’s first professional footballer, when he played part-time for Queens Park Rangers as he studied to be a physical training instructor in the United Kingdom in the 1950s.