Shooting Stars FC secured Nigeria's first continental football trophy in December 1976 by winning the African Cup Winners' Cup. The club defeated defending champions Tonnerre Kalala FC of Cameroon across two legs with an aggregate score of 4-2. Segun Odegbami scored seven of the team's 16 regulation-time goals in the competition, while striking partner Moses Otolorin contributed eight. The remaining 14 players in the match squad scored just one goal between them. The victory came during Odegbami's National Youth Service Corps year, shortly after he joined IICC Shooting Stars FC as an undergraduate in 1974. He was studying Mechanical Engineering at The Polytechnic, Ibadan under the newly introduced HND program. Football helped fund his education, covering both fees and living expenses. The 1976 triumph marked Nigeria's breakthrough in African club football, following Tonnerre Kalala's win of the inaugural edition in 1975 led by Roger Milla. At the start of 1977, eight Shooting Stars players had represented the Nigerian national team, the Green Eagles, between 1974 and 1976. They included Zion Ogunfeyimi, Idowu Otubusen, Samuel Ojebode, Best Ogedegbe, Mudashiru Lawal, Adekunle Awesu, Phillip Boamah, and Odegbami. As league champions and reigning African Cup Winners' Cup holders, Shooting Stars had the option to enter either the Champions Club Cup or defend their title in the Cup Winners' Cup. The decision, influenced by political considerations and made in consultation with the Oyo State government, was to defend the Cup Winners' Cup. This allowed third-placed Water Corporation FC of Ibadan to enter the Champions Club Cup in their place.