Dolphin Football Club was a Nigerian football team based in

Port Harcourt Port Harcourt (Pidgin: ''Po-ta-kot or Pi-ta-kwa)'' is the capital and largest city of Rivers State in Nigeria. It is the fifth most populous city in Nigeria after Lagos, Kano, Ibadan and Benin. It lies along the Bonny River and is locate ...

History

The club was known until 2001 as Eagle Cement FC. In 2004–05 the team placed 6th in 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 ...

. Representing their country in the 2005

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

, they reached the finals, losing to Morocco's

FAR Rabat Association sportive des Forces armées royales (, ), abbreviated as AS FAR (), is a professional sport club based in Morocco's capital Rabat, that competes in Botola, the top tier of Moroccan football. The club was founded in 1958, 3 years aft ...

. They play their home games at the Liberation Stadium. However, for the 2008 Confederation Cup they played their games at U. J. Esuene Stadium in

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Cali and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language, as the Efik people dominate this area. The city is adjac ...

. They were relegated from the

in 2007 by one point. They however came back to retain the

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 ...

over

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team founded in 1970. Based in Enugu, the Rangers play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one ...

. In their run, they twice won by penalties 4–2, including a semi-final triumph over crosstown rivals

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

before winning the final 3–2 on penalties. They returned to the Premier League after winning their division in 2009. On 19 February 2016, the merger of Dolphins F.C. and

Sharks F.C. Sharks Football Club was a Nigerian football club based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. They played in the top division in Nigerian football, the Nigerian Premier League. Their home stadium was Sharks Stadium although they played some of their ...

was announced by the Rivers State Commissioner of Sports

Boma Iyaye Boma Iyaye (born 24 September 1969) is a Rivers State accountant, politician and a former Commissioner of Sports. Education He was educated at State School II Port Harcourt between 1974 and 1980. He attended Baptist High School for his secondary ...

, with the new team named Rivers United F.C.

Achievements

: 3 ::1997, 2004, 2011 *

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 ...

: 4 ::2001, 2004, 2006, 2007 * Professional Second Division: 3 ::1994, 2002, 2008–09 *

: 0 ::Finalist : 2005

Performance in CAF competitions

CAF Champions League 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 football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

: 3 appearances ::

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– Group stage ::

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

– Second Round ::

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

– First Round *

: 3 appearances ::

– ''Finalist'' ::

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

– Group stage ::

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

– 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 ...

: 1 appearance ::2002 – First Round

Technical staff

;''Technical Manager'' * Musa Abdulahi ;''Team Manager'' * Diepreye Fiberesima ;''Club Secretary'' * Fatai Olayinka ;''Accountant'' * Fubara Ekine ;''Welfare Office'' Wilson Igwe ;''Media Officer'' * China Acheru ;''Curator'' * Amanaman Udoh ;''Masseur'' * Stamford Tiene

Former coaches

* Philip Boamah * Ifeanyi J. Duruji

References

{{reflist

External links

2007 in Nigerian soccer
at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Football clubs in Port Harcourt 1988 establishments in Nigeria 1980s establishments in Rivers State Defunct football clubs in Nigeria Sports clubs and teams in Nigeria 2016 disestablishments in Nigeria 2010s disestablishments in Rivers State Association football clubs established in 1988 Association football clubs disestablished in 2016