Saidu Salisu

Kano Pillars

Full name	Kano Pillars Football Club
Nickname	Sai Masu Gida
Founded	1990; 36 years ago (1990)
Ground	Sani Abacha Stadium Kano
Capacity	16,000
Chairman	Musbahu Ahmad Garo
Manager	Daniel Ogunmodede
League	Nigeria Professional Football League
2025–26	15th of 20
Home colours Away colours

Kano Pillars Football Club is a Nigerian professional football club based in Kano, northwestern Nigeria. They play in the Nigeria Professional Football League, the first-tier division in Nigerian football. They play their home games at Sani Abacha Stadium.

Kano Pillars FC was founded in 1990, the year the professional association football league started in Nigeria, and it is also among the oldest clubs in Nigerian history alongside clubs like Bendel Insurance, Shooting Stars, and Enugu Rangers. It was an amalgamation of three amateur clubs in Kano State.

Kano Pillars Football Club is the most popular club in Nigeria. The Pillars drew an average home attendance of 8,894 in the 2023–24 edition of the NPFL, the 2nd-highest in the league.

Founded in 1990, by Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, former chairman of Nigeria Football Association and former sports commissioner of Kano, from the combination of WRECA FC, Kano Golden Stars and Bank of the North FC, Kano Pillars achieved outstanding success by winning the 2007–08 Nigerian Premier League. Kano Pillars produced players like Abiodun Baruwa who has since played for Swiss, Austrian, Welsh and British Clubs and Sani Kaita who later plays for Sparta Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Another Prominent player is Ahmed Garba 'Yaro Yaro' who later plays for AB in Denmark and a notable player from Kano Pillars FC is Ahmed Musa who played for Leicester City in the English Premier league after joining from CSKA Moscow. It was registered as a limited liability company with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigeria, and then registered with the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) as a professional football club.

In the 2020/2021 NPFL season, Kano Pillars were fined a whopping sum of ₦7,500,000.00 for failing to follow the orders of the LMC and NFF, which prohibited fans from viewing live games in the stadium. Fans disrupted a top table clash between Akwa United and Kano Pillars. The game ended 0–0 after it was concluded the following day.

They were relegated from NPFL on 16 July 2022 following the confirmation of a verdict against them for the deduction of 3 points, despite an appeal which the NFF committee disregarded against their complaint. The verdict on them was a penalty for what their former chairman did to match officials in their encounter with Dakkada FC

They are also nicknamed "Ahly Killers" as they scored 2 magnificent goals in Egypt and drew with Al Ahly Cairo in Egypt 2–2 and 1–1 in Nigeria, so the Ahly Killers went to the Group stage in the African Champions League on the away goals rule. They made it to the semi-finals before being eliminated against fellow Nigerian team Heartland.

• Nigerian Premier League
  • Champions (4): 2007–08, 2012, 2013, 2014
  • Runners-up (1): 2009–10
• Nigeria Federation Cup
  • Winners (2): 1953, 2019
  • Runners-up (2): 1991, 2018
• Nigeria Super Cup
  • Winners (1): 2008

• CAF Champions League: 6 appearances

2009 – Semi-finals

2011 – First round

2013 – First round

2014 – Preliminary round

2015 – First round

2020 – Preliminary round

As of 8 February 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  NGR Abdallah Sulaiman 2 DF  NGR Ali Abdullahi 3 DF  NGR Ismaila Nasir 4 MF  NGR Shehu Abdullahi 5 DF  NGR Abdullahi Musa 6 MF  NGR Suleiman Idris 7 FW  NGR Ahmed Musa 8 MF  NGR Yusuf Maigoro 9 FW  NGR Auwalu Ali Malam 10 MF  NGR Rabiu Ali (Captain) 11 FW  NGR Mustapha Umar 12 MF  NGR Aminu Mohammed 14 DF  NGR Ibrahim Abubakar 16 FW  NGR Mustapha Salisu 18 MF  NGR Sani Mubarak 19 FW  NGR Ibrahim Mustapha

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 FW  NGR Ibrahim Abdullahi 22 FW  NGR Muhammad Yakubu 23 DF  NGR Sani Faisal 24 MF  NGR Aminu Sani 25 MF  NGR Joshua Dua 26 DF  NGR Habibu Yakubu 27 DF  NGR Ibrahim Nura 28 FW  NGR Yusuf Abdullahi 29 MF  NGR Mubarak Lawan 30 DF  NGR Fahad Usman 31 GK  NGR Mohammed Galadima 33 GK  NGR Muttaka Musa 34 DF  NGR Attairu Mushinu 36 MF  NGR Muhammed Usman 38 FW  NGR Umar Shehu 40 FW  NGR Abba Adam

Head Coach/Technical Adviser

• Yaseer Sani Salisu El, Hakimee

Chairman

• Babangida Umar Little

general manager

• Umar Babangida (Little)

General Coordinator

• Salisu Yaro

Kit Manager

• Habibu Zubair Abubakar

Marketing Manager

• Malik Jabir (2008–) (Technical Adviser)
• Ahmed Pele Abdu
• Ladan Bosso (2011)
• Baba Ganaru
• Kadiri Ikhana (1991), (1997–98), (2007–08), (2016–date)
• Ivo Sajh (2009)

Salisu Yusuf Okey Emordi Evans Ogenyi

• Rabiu Ali
• Ahmed Musa
• Junior Lokosa
• Chinedu Udoji
• Ndubisi Chukunyere
• Yaseer El, Hakimee

• Kano Pillars FC Results - current results of Kano Pillars FC matches
• Kano Pillars FC Fan Website - Kano Pillars FC news, match results, upcoming fixtures, and NPFL league standings