Former Super Eagles defender Ifeanyi Anaemena has resigned from his role as Sporting Director of Kun Khalifat FC, a Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) side, the club has confirmed. Anaemena, 33, stepped down after serving in the administrative post since July 2025, shortly after Kun Khalifat earned promotion to Nigeria’s top flight.
Anaemena, who enjoyed a decorated playing career — becoming the only defender to win the NPFL title three times with Enyimba (twice) and Remo Stars — said the decision to resign was “very difficult” but part of the natural evolution of life and career.
Expressing gratitude, he thanked Kun Khalifat FC President Michael Amaefule for giving him the platform to transition from on-field competition to an administrative role, calling it an important chapter in his post-playing career.
In his resignation statement, Anaemena also extended best wishes to the club’s fans, staff and players, hoping Kun Khalifat will continue to progress in the NPFL. He added that he plans to take a period of rest before considering his next “move in football.”
Kun Khalifat, nicknamed The Pride of Imo State, will now begin the process of identifying a successor to oversee the club’s sporting operations as they pursue league objectives in their maiden NPFL season.
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There are moments in football when change, rather than disruption, becomes necessary to sustain ambition. The resignation of Ifeanyi Anaemena as Sporting Director of Kun Khalifat FC embodies such a moment not a rupture, but an inflection point in the unfolding narrative of a club still probing its identity in Nigeria’s top flight.
Anaemena’s journey from decorated central defender to administrator was emblematic of football’s broader rhythm — the transition from boots to boardrooms, from tackling to team-building. In a close-knit football culture such as Nigeria’s, where former players often evolve into custodians of institutional knowledge, his appointment last summer was both logical and aspirational. The Pride of Imo State had just arrived in the NPFL, and they chose a steward who understood not only the rigours of competition but the subtleties of domestic football’s ecosystem.
Yet the role of a Sporting Director is rarely ceremonial. It demands a confluence of vision, coherence and adaptability — negotiating between the immediacy of results and the long game of sustainable growth. To step aside, as Anaemena has done, is to acknowledge that evolution in football leadership often parallels evolution on the pitch: there are seasons for playing, seasons for leading, and seasons for reflection.
His gratitude towards club leadership and supporters was more than a gracious farewell it was recognition of mutual trust. Kun Khalifat’s rapid ascent from grassroots beginnings to NPFL status illustrates the dynamism at the heart of Nigerian football — an arena where ambition meets challenge, and where stewardship must continuously recalibrate to new realities.
For Kun Khalifat, the search for a new Sporting Director will be a test of strategic clarity. In a league defined by unpredictability and competitive fervour, the individual chosen must harness both the club’s potential and the broader patterns of Nigeria’s football landscape. The true measure of Anaemena’s legacy will be seen not solely in trophies past, but in how the club he served navigates its future — a future he helped to conceive.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Anaemena was appointed Kun Khalifat FC Sporting Director shortly after the club’s historic promotion to the NPFL in July 2025 — their first ever in the top flight.
- He holds a unique NPFL record as the only defender to have won the league title three times (twice with Enyimba and once with Remo Stars).
- Kun Khalifat FC is nicknamed The Pride of Imo State and plays home fixtures at Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri.
- Anaemena featured during his playing career for FC Ifeanyi Ubah, Enyimba, Rivers United and Remo Stars, as well as having professional stints in Europe.
- Following his resignation, the club will now seek a new Sporting Director to oversee development, recruitment and sporting strategy in the NPFL.
