Garden City Panthers Football Club

Garden City Panthers FC: Academy, Coach, and Partnerships

Garden City Panthers FC History and Information

Garden City Panthers FC is a professional soccer club from the Nigerian capital city of Abuja. It competes internationally and domestically across multiple age groups and competitions, including the Viareggio Cup in Italy and the Nigerian Youth Cup.

Stadium

The Garden City Panthers train at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja, which it shares with Nigeria’s national team, the Flying Eagles. The stadium has a maximum capacity of just over sixty thousand spectators and was first constructed after Nigeria was selected to host the 8th All Africa Games in 2000.

In previous years, the stadium was simply known as Abuja National Stadium. However, in 2019, it was renamed in honor of Moshood Abiola, the rightful winner of the 1993 presidential election overturned by the military government of the time.

Football Academies

The Garden City Panthers are one of the main Nigerian feeder teams for high-level football both nationally and internationally. Notably, the team has academy partnerships with Italy’s AS Roma and Russia’s FC Zenith.

In addition to providing an entry point to bigger leagues, Garden City Panthers’ academy also provides graduates with educational opportunities by way of sporting scholarships to US Universities.

Team Coach

Former Flying Eagles coach John Obuh currently coaches the Garden City Panthers. In addition to his head coach role with the Panthers, John also holds the technical director position at the AS Roma Academy.

Recent Results

The Panthers have recently competed in the Nigerian FCT Aiteo Cup and the Viareggio Cup in Italy.

2022 FCT Aiteo Cup

In the FCT Aiteo Cup, the senior team made it as far as the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, it was knocked 0-1 out by Mahanaim FC when MFC’s Aliyu Baba scored a late goal in the second half of the match.

2022 Viareggio Cup

In the 2022 Viareggio Cup, the junior team didn’t progress past the elimination rounds, losing all three of its games against better-resourced European teams. Its first two games against Rappresentativa Serie D and Siena ended in the team’s goalless defeats.

Fortunately, the team put up a much stronger fight in its third and final game, scoring 4 goals against Atalanta Bergame Calcio. But, sadly, it was ultimately outplayed by the historic Italian team, who responded with 6 goals of its own.