KINGSLEY OGBODO, CEO OF UK BASED SPORTS AGENCY, OGBODO UK SPORT LTD has stated that investment in the youth football system of Nigeria Football will make our football great again and will return Nigeria’s lost football glory.

Kingsley who himself played to the highest level of professional football and played for Ujpest in the Hungarian Football League as well as Blackpool before calling it quit because of a nagging knee injury has stated that the league organisers and the federation have to start investing in the youth League and mandate Nigeria Professional league sides to start setting up a youth football team.

” I think is high time that the organisers of our league and the federation need to start mandating all the professional league clubs in the country to start setting up their youth football teams. What this implies is that these youth teams becomes a feeder for the clubs, it also becomes a feeder for the various youth National teams. When a young player finds himself playing for the youth team of an Enyimba for instance he can start aspiring that one day he will break into the First team of Enyimba. It also becomes easier for the handlers of our youth teams to also visit these youth teams and scout for exceptional young talents from the youth teams of these professional clubs and it then means that the player at a young age is then been exposed to the right Football development’

“We must also start investing in our youth coaches. I think we don’t have enough of youth coaches. The skills and knowledge and requirement for a youth coach is quite different and that is why a lot of our youth players at a young age are not exposed to the right trainings and football development. So until there is massive investment in our youth football system, then it will be difficult to reclaim our lost glory in football.

“The astute manager who worked with Kelechi Iheanacho between 2013 and 2018 and played a part in the former Nigeria Youth International’s move to Manchester City also shared his position on the influx of foreign born players in our National Team.

” I personally think that we are now depending too largely on foreign based professionals. Why I am not against the choice of foreign born professionals in our team, I feel only the very best should be invited to be part of our team and that is when we can’t find a better alternative back home, then we can then settle for a more suitable and better alternative from abroad.’

You have to understand that the passion and patriotism for a player born in Nigeria will not be same as a player born abroad. Look at Osimhen who grew up in Nigeria and would probably have had the aspiration as a young kid to one day wear the green white green and his friends from his community and family will watch him on TV, the passion is different, it is not same for a player born abroad” concluded Kingsley Ogbodo.

Ogbodo UK SPORT LTD has a number of bright prospects under its management book including Danish Born Midfielder Tochi Chukwuani who recently joined Hellas Verona from Nordjelland, Tamara Ezekiel of Kano Pillars, Immanuel Okoyen Benaoyagha of Leganes B, Tony Edjomariegwe of Al-Merreikh amongst others

  Football, Grassroots, Kingsley Ogbodo, United Kingdom, Youth System