Abuja — Some 40,000 Nigerian football fans gathered in Abuja's National Stadium Sunday were given an early Christmas present as Enyimba of Aba State won the Confederation of African Football's prestigious champions league trophy for the second year running. This marks the first time a team has won the trophy in successive years since Englebert of Zaire in the late 1960's.

The match pitted Enyimba against a familiar rival, Etoile du Sahel of Sousse, Tunisia. The teams had met four previous times this year alone. Enyimba, down two goals to one after a loss to the Tunisians in the first game of the two-part final, had their work cut out for them coming into the second match.

For most of the first half, both teams seemed anxious and hesitant to press the ball, focusing heavily on defense. But the Nigerians eventually turned on the heat, nearly scoring twice and finally forcing a somewhat contestable penalty in the 41st minute. Enyimba's goalie, and member of the Nigerian national team, Vincent Enyeama scored on the free kick.

Buoyed by their lead, Enyimba came out strong in the second half, pressing early and increasing their lead to 2-0 with a 54th minute goal by Muri Ogunbiyi. But the Tunisians equalized the aggregate score in the 63rd minute with Zouaghi Kais' magnificent header that flew just over the hands of the Elephants' keeper.

After a scoreless final thirty minutes of football due largely to stellar goalkeeping on both sides, the match was forced to a shootout. The Nigerians replaced goalie Vincent Enyeama with Dele Aiyenugba, who had been training specially for just such a situation. He proved his worth, stopping Etoile's second attempt by Frej Sabeur, and giving Enyimba the CAF title and a purse of $US950,000.