Chairman of Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL side, Elder Clement Kumbi Titiloye has disclosed logic he employed to produce talented footballers when he was the Director of Kwara Football Academy, KFA in Ilorin.

Kumbi make this known while fielding questions from sports writers on Lets Gist Naija Football WhatsApp platform.

The KFA which was established in 2005 then known as Football College of Excellence, FCE has produced notable players including former captain of Nigeria U20 side, Gbenga Arokoyo, Kelvin Kpakor, Ichull Lordson of Lobi Stars, Dennis Bonaventure of Club Brugge among others.

When he was asked how he was able to make the academy a delight to football fans and youths, Kumbi said his domestic football experience and transparency were added to earlier success recorded by former Super Eagles’ coach, Clemens Westerhof who had earlier managed the place to manage the academy which helped in fishing raw talents.

He sighted funding and sentiments as major snags affecting major academies and football organisations just as advocated for transparency just as he and he charged the state government to give more attention to the academy which has been ranked as the best in Africa at some point.

“What happened in Kwara Football Academy, KFA that made us achieve success by discovering those talents was some good work laid down first by Clemens Westerhof, all I only did was to apply the Nigerianess into the system and I was more open to everyone.

“What is wrong (with KFA) today is that funding is difficult, secondly most of our youths today, they believe in fast easy way out in life, that’s why you see some players in two three years when you start looking at them for something better, they found their ways to Europe and ended sign a slave contract, but with proper education, you can show these boys how to be patient, get education, learn more about the game, be grounded in it and then you can more.

“But then, funding is a big issue to make this happen, that’s why its difficult for people running KFA today to do better.

“And again, one of the biggest challenge that makes many people running football not to succeed is sentiments. The day sentiment gets into your system whether you’re running a football club or any football organisation then you’ll running into problems.

‘So, the problem of KFA today is purely the funding and then, the resource to go out and scout and identify these talents,” said Kwara United chairman.

  KFA, Kumbi Titiloye