Yemi Tella (''c.'' 1951 – 20 October 2007) was the coach of the Nigerian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team that won the

2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, the twelfth edition of the tournament, was held in South Korea between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four ...

. He was awarded the title of 2007 African coach of the year. Tella, a former lecturer at the National Institute for Sports in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, had been diagnosed with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

when he led his team to a pre-World Cup eight-nation tournament in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in June 2007. A month before his death, he was awarded the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic medal - an important honour - for his achievement, by the Nigerian president

Umaru Yar'Adua Umaru Musa Yar'Adua (16 August 19515 May 2010) was a Nigerian politician who, was the President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010. He was declared the winner of the Nigerian presidential election held on 21 April 2007, and was sworn in on 29 May 20 ...

. Tella spent the last two weeks of his life at the Lagos State Teaching Hospital. He died on 20 October 2007, aged 56.

References

External links

BBC obit
1951 births 2007 deaths Deaths from lung cancer People from Lagos Deaths from cancer in Nigeria Members of the Order of the Federal Republic Residents of Lagos {{Nigeria-footy-bio-stub