BCC Lions Football Club (Benue Cement Company Lions Football Club) was a Nigerian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team based in

Gboko Gboko is a Local Government Area in Benue state, North-central Nigeria. It is headquartered in the town of Gboko. Gboko LGA was created on11 May 1970 with a landmass of 2,264 sq km. Wielding a population of 358,936 according to 2006 census, it ...

Benue State Benue is a State in the North Central Nigeria, North Central region of Nigeria. It is popularly referred to as part of the Middle belt. It has an estimated population of about 4,253,641 in List of Nigerian states by population, the 2006 census. ...

. It competed at various levels in the Nigerian League system, including the Nigeria Amateur League and the Nigeria Professional League, gaining glory at some periods until its decline and eventual phasing out. Its home games were played at the Joseph Sarwuan Tarka Stadium. Some efforts made to resuscitate the team proved fruitless.

History

BCC Lions was founded in 1982 by the Benue State government, under Aper Aku, the first civilian governor of the state. Chuks Aningo was the team's first coach. In later years, Aningo would serve as the team's manager. At the time, he was employed by Benue Cement Company. BCC Lions was the first team in

Northern Nigeria Northern Nigeria (or Arewa, Arewancin Nijeriya) was an autonomous division within Nigeria, distinctly different from the southern part of the country, with independent customs, foreign relations and security structures. In 1962, it acquired t ...

to win the Nigeria Challenge Cup (now known as the

Nigeria FA Cup The Nigeria Federation Cup is the main football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria contested by 74 teams, representing the 36 states and the FCT of Nigeria. It is the Nigerian domestic cup and the Nigerian equivalent of the FA Cup, Emperor ...

) in 1989. The game was played at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium,

Bauchi Bauchi (Fula: ''Leydi Bauchi'' 𞤤𞤫𞤴𞤣𞤭 𞤦𞤢𞤵𞤷𞥅𞤭) is a States of Nigeria, state in the North East (Nigeria), North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria. It is bordered by Jigawa State, Jigawa to the north, Yobe State, Y ...

, and the only goal of the match was scored by Aham Nwankwo. The club went on to win the 1993, 1994, 1997 editions of the Challenge Cup as well. After winning the Challenge Cup, the next year the club won the Mandela Cup as well in 1990. During the early 1990s, BCC Lions were one of the dominant teams in the league, peaking with the double in 1994. They were relegated from the

Nigerian Premier League The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) (formerly the Nigeria Professional Football League) is the highest level of club football in Nigerian football league system. The Nigerian Premier League has suffered like many others, from the financ ...

in 1998 by two points, and were unable to regain their former glory. After spending six years in the lower division, they slowly lost their fan base and financial support. Despite a 2.5 million

naira The naira (sign: ₦; code: NGN; , , , ) is the currency of Nigeria. One naira is divided into 100 ''kobo''. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the sole issuer of legal tender money throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It controls the ...

boost from Benue State governor George Akume in 2002 and another million from Guilder Brewing two years later, the team was disbanded, not even showing up for their 2004

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

first round game against Shooting Stars F.C. An attempt to resurrect the team began in November 2007. Dangote, also chairman of the BCC board, announced 110 million naira for the team to participate in the 2008/09 season. They were relegated after finishing 13th.

Honours

Domestic

** Winners (1): 1994 *

Nigerian FA Cup The Nigeria Federation Cup is the main football (soccer), football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria contested by 74 teams, representing the States of Nigeria, 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria, FCT of Nigeria. It is the ...

** Winners (4): 1989, 1993, 1994, 1997

Continental

African Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and w ...

** Winners (1): 1990

Performance in CAF competitions

African Cup of Champions Clubs The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual club football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) a ...

: 1 appearance ::

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

– Second Round *

CAF Cup Winners' Cup The African Cup Winners' Cup was a football competition that started in 1975 and merged with the CAF Cup in 2004 to form the CAF Confederation Cup. It was a competition between the winning clubs of domestic cups in CAF-affiliated nations and was ...

: 4 appearances ::1990 – Champion ::1991 – ''Finalist'' ::1994 – Quarter-Finals ::1998 – First Round

References

External links

GULDER SPLASHES N20.5m ON CLUBS
(archived)
The Punch: Benue woos BCC to revive Lions
(archived)
BCC Lions to bounce back
(archived)

(archived) {{CAF Cup Winners' Cup winners Football clubs in Nigeria Benue State Association football clubs established in 1982 1982 establishments in Nigeria African Cup Winners Cup winning clubs