A Pentecostal Football Club
Many Christians will follow their religion in their own way, some pray at home, some lead a lifestyle that aims to do good in life. Many go to church. What if though, that church started a football team? What if that church went on to finish in the top two of the national league, and qualify to participate in a continental club tournament? This is the story of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Football Club (MFM).
Now, this story is a bit more complicated than just starting a football team that becomes successful. This heavily involves religion, the Pentecostal Christian Church. What is a Pentecostal Christian church? The belief of the church is that all Christians should seek a post-conversion religious experience called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and faith is experiential and not discovered through ritual or thinking. A bit different to the more common practices, Pentecostal Christians will worship and preach through storytelling, speaking in tongues, divine healing and exorcisms.
What has any of this got to do with football? Let us take a look over in Lagos, Nigeria, where this story is based. The club was created in 2007 by Daniel Kolawole, stating he had a vision from god telling him to ‘guide young people away from the vices of this world’. Kolawole roamed the streets of Lagos, specifically in the poorer regions to find talent, which resulted in great success. The club quickly rose through the rankings of the Nigerian football league system and in 2014 secured its first piece of silverware. The Church World Cup, beating the United Church of Colombia 7-0 in the final which was held in Goa, India. Proudly claiming to be the best football church in the world.
This was no surprise though as MFM were established into the second division of Nigerian football the year previous. Two years later and the club had another reason for celebration, promotion to the Nigeria Premier League. An astronomical rise through the leagues, so much more than a football club, but a club performing miracles on and off the pitch.
Stories from within the camp show the togetherness and the believe of everyone involved in this club. Before every game the team gathers around a pastor in the changing room, each player being blessed and in return giving themselves to god. The believe is that performing this ritual gives the players a heightened opportunity to win the match. A club based on faith with results to back up the claims, is there really a higher power influencing performance?
MFM has changed the lives of so many young people in Lagos, when signing for the club you become a member of the church. The players are all housed and fed, earning up to $2,500 a month. For a footballer this doesn’t sound a lot with the figures we are accustomed to in the news, but in Nigeria it is a small fortune. Minimum wage is roughly $50 a month and may people live on less than $2 a day.
In exchange of this small fortune, housing and food, players are to follow a strict set of rules. No alcohol, no drugs, no jewellery and importantly all players must attend prayers. The phrases “Amen” and “Praise the Lord” are encouraged to be used on and off the pitch. How does the club pay for all this though? This is where a Pentecostal church differs from others.
Pentecostal Churches, along with donations, take 10 percent of all its members salary every month.
Now, many people from outside the church disagree with this practice, in protest that they are manipulating its members for the benefit of wealth for the church. To think that Nigeria itself has around 180 million people living there, and approximately 20 percent of the population are members of a Pentecostal or Evangelical church, it is safe to say the club is extremely wealthy. The club, arguably, are one of the wealthiest clubs to ever exist in Africa with the power of the church funding everything.
As we see so often in football in today’s world, money and success come hand in hand. After promotion to the Nigeria Premier League the club won its first game, a narrow 2-1 victory over Solid Miners. The club narrowly avoided relegation in its first season but that is a huge success for any club in their first top-flight season, no matter what where they are. In 2017 the best season in the club’s history came about, MFM won 19 of the 38 games they played that season and finished runners up in the league. This league position resulted in the club earning a spot in the CAF (Confederation of Africa Football Cup), the equivalent to the European Champions League.
Being in the first round of qualifiers for the CAF, MFM came up against AS Real Bamako, a Malian outfit. MFM stunned their opponents running out 2-1 victors on aggregate and progressing to the second round. In this round they faced FC Alger or Algiers, the same miracle could not be performed, even though a 2-1 victory in the first leg gave MFM hope they were quick to fold in the second leg conceding six goals and being dumped out of the competition.
Huge success in such a short period of time, what about the club now, surely there is more to this story. Why hasn’t this been broadcast to a global audience? Well after six years in the top division MFM were relegated and with this brought the downfall of the club. On March 3rd ahead of the 2022/23 season the church had decided to stop funding the club. The club have officially been replaced in the league by Henserd FC.
This story brings together so many people and organisations. Churches, religion, football, poor people of Lagos, the list goes on. A club which had the backing of God, brought success to its name and allowed a better life for the famished people on the streets of Lagos. Many Nigerian people loved this club for what it stood for and the opportunities it gave to their people, and to see it diminished would have been devastating to many. The Church is still active and running and never will the people of Lagos forget what occurred here. Mountains of Fire and Miracles Football Club, a Pentecostal Church team showing that miracles are real, and dreams can come true if enough people put their faith into a higher being.
Researched and Written by BSc Cavan Campbell
