Yemi Tella

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Yemi Tella (c. 1951 – 20 October 2007) was the coach of the Nigerian football team that won the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup.{{cite news |title=Adieu, Yemi Tella |url=http://www.nasarawastate.org/newsday/news/nasara07/NewArticle263.html |work=Nigerian Newsday |date=12 November 2007 |access-date=29 August 2011 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928205026/http://www.nasarawastate.org/newsday/news/nasara07/NewArticle263.html |url-status=dead }} He was awarded the title of 2007 African coach of the year.{{cite news |title=Kanoute, Africa's Best |url=http://www.modernghana.com/GhanaHome/SportsArchive/sports_details.asp?menu_id=2&id=VFZSVk1rNVVTVEk9 |work=Daily Guide |date=4 February 2008 |access-date=1 September 2011 }}

Tella, a former lecturer at the National Institute for Sports in Lagos, had been diagnosed with lung cancer when he led his team to a pre-World Cup eight-nation tournament in South Korea 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. {{Cite news |date=2007-10-20 |title=Nigeria under-17 coach dies |language=en-GB |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/7054478.stm |access-date=2023-02-04}}

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