This is the concluding part of the long series on age grade football. We have traversed through the analysis of the WAFU U17 tournament held in Togo, the investment angle to age grade football, the challenges of cadre football growth, and now we want to proffer practical and practicable solutions to this imbroglio.
From the start, we raised nagging questions which have always begged for answers.
We highlighted the challenges as dearth of club academies, quest for immediate gain, greed of unprofessional football agents, poverty/family demands, lack of awareness of football ethics. Age controversy, bad administration, favouritism/tribalism/god-fatherism and extortion. We showed how these in one way or the other stunts the growth of our football in general.
Below are some practical suggestions that could help enhance the chances of realizing the objectives for which the apex football governing body, FIFA, instituted cadre competitions.
Ownership of academies and youth teams by Nigerian clubsides should be a prerequisite for participating in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL). The squad of each clubside must be made up of at least 40% of players from either the youth team or the academy.
The NFF should organize annual national competitions for U13 to U16. From these competitions, we can pick the players that would make the trial camps for the final lists for the Golden Eaglets teams. The constancy of this would ensure quality supply of talents when we need them.
The NPFL and NWFL should organize club competitions for the youth teams especially U21s. This would keep them constantly in match forms and they could transit to the main teams. This happens in Europe and yields fruits.
The NFF should create a technical department for age grade football. This would include scouts that would traverse the different nooks and crannies of all the states of the federation including the FCT. They can also identify players from independent academies. This department makes recommendations to the coach but the final squad list is the decision of the coach.
In order to combat the disgrace occasioned by failure at the MRI scan during tournaments’ screenings, we will use U16s to prosecute U17 matches. This is very plausible given the many talents we must have pooled together from the suggestions above. They must have synergized together having been playing together for quite some time. There would be additions from time to time as some may lose form along the way.
The NFF should endeavour to accredit every professional football agent in Nigeria after due diligence and assessment. This must be done before the first transaction could be carried out by such a prospective agent. Foreign scouts coming into Nigeria must undergo same process before transactions are carried out.
We will conclude with the Westerhof paradigm. Clemens Westerhof remains one of the greatest coaches Nigeria ever had. He qualified Nigeria for her first World Cup in 1994 and built a very strong squad within the time, winning the AFCON and getting to the second round of the World Cup in our first appearance.
Westerhof combined technical savvy with administrative competence to get the squad he wanted. He played the professional agent for most of the players. What did he do? He got the players together, trained them for long till they gelled as a team. He penetrated the then IBB military administration and got the funds he wanted as at when needed. He worked closely together with the then NFA chairman and Minister of Sports (Emeka Omeruah and Jim Nwobodo respectively). In order to maintain form and tempo, he personally scouted for clubs for his squad members having in mind the particular club that would suit each player’s pattern of play. This ushered in the trend of massive exportation of Nigerian players to international clubs and mostly Europe.
All these formed the combo that gave us that formidable team that almost conquered the world. This can be replicated within our youth teams and the players followed up till they mature in the Super Eagles. We have glaring examples of players who have blossomed because they followed the disciplined route of hard work and dedication.
Azuka Edokobi is a Writer , a Farmer, a Supply Chain Expert and an Entrepreneur
