Tijani Babangida was a football player who played in five different countries on three continents and was renowned for his fast feet.
Following his family’s horrific accident, former Super Eagles winger Tijani Babaginda received heartfelt condolences from Vitesse and AFC Ajax players.
Last week, while traveling to Abuja along the Nigerian freeway between Kaduna and Zaria, the former Ajax winger was involved in an automobile accident.
The 1996 Olympic gold medallist from Atlanta lost his younger brother Ibrahim Babangida and his baby son Fadil in the vehicle accident, and his wife is critically ill following facial surgery.
Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, the president of the Nigerian Football Federation, paid the former Nigerian winger a visit in an Abuja hospital with his executives.
Tijani was an Ajax player from 1996 to 2003, including a loan to Vitesse for the 2001–2002 season. Ajax and Vitesse faced off in today’s final Eredivisie matchday.
Babaginda represented both clubs, thus it only made sense that players from both sides banded together to offer their former teammate a poignant message at the GelreDome stadium, letting him know he wasn’t grieving alone.
In addition, 50-year-old Tijani received a poignant message from Loius Van Gaal, the former coach of the Netherlands national team, expressing his sympathies for the loss of numerous family members in the vehicle accident.
Before Van Gaal left to coach a Barcelona team full of superstars in Spain, the two spent a season together at Ajax. Tijani once called the former manager of Bayern Munich the best coach he has ever worked with.
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