In the wake of guiding Sunshine Stars to safety in the Nigeria Premier Football League relegation battle last season, Kennedy Boboye has set his sights on clinching the title for the club in the upcoming 2024/25 campaign, as reported by PUNCH Sports Extra.
Boboye, a coach who has previously won the NPFL twice with Plateau United (2017) and Akwa United (2021), made a return to Sunshine Stars for a second term before the latter half of the previous season, leading them to a 10th place finish with 52 points despite a shaky start.
Currently, the Owena Babes are participating in the Governor Douye Diri Pre-Season tournament in Bayelsa, where they kicked off with a 1-0 victory over hosts Bayelsa United on Monday.
Ismail Ayodele, one of their recent acquisitions, kept the hosts on edge with his attacking prowess throughout the game, scoring the sole goal in the 35th minute.
Following the triumph, Boboye mentioned that the tournament serves as an evaluation platform for the players in preparation for their ultimate goal.
Expressing his ambitions, the two-time NPFL champion stated in a post-match interview, “Our objective is to secure the league title; nothing less than that. We are still a work in progress; after spending two or three weeks together, we will showcase a much-improved performance than what is currently perceived.”
Since their notable runs in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup between 2011 and 2012, Boboye has steered the club to one of its most successful NPFL finishes in almost ten years, achieving a commendable sixth place in the 2015 season.
In the 2014/15 season, under Boboye’s guidance, Sunshine Stars narrowly missed out on the title against Enyimba and also failed to secure a spot in CAF inter-club football competition, marking their absence for the third consecutive year.