More than 40 percent of the current Super Eagles players, including some among those who may be on parade at the upcoming African Confederation Cup of Nations, AFCON, are products of private sector indicatives that centered on soccer development, Chairman, Kwara United Football Club, Mr. Kumbi Titiloye, has said.
Many scouting agents have called Titiloye a critical player in Nigeria’s football players marketing.
The African Confederation Cup of Nations, AFCON , is scheduled to be held in Côte d’Ivoire from January 13 to February 11 , 2024.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned that Titiloye said this while giving his speech during the visit of the Minister of Sports Development, Mr John Enoh to the construction site of the Football House and Soccer academy project in Oro, Irepodun local government.
The Football House and Soccer academy is said to have the potential of being West Africa’s biggest when completed.
Kumbi, who urged government’s support for private initiatives in soccer development in the country , added that majority of the current crop of players in the national team were groomed by soccer academies established by private investors.
In the past decades of Nigerian soccer, government- sponsored academicals, football clubs contributed largely to the pool of players in all national teams.
‘This is no longer the case as private investors now take the lead in player grooming and marketing’ he said.
Titiloye also submitted that government must not show indifference as this trend continues.
‘Government should support our project. Only then can the efforts be channeled gainfully for our national teams.
I was the principal manager of that academy in Abuja which groomed players for the country’s Under 17 between 2013 and 2015.
Most of the players now play for the senior national team and I am proud to say that I was part of their formative years’ Kumbi said.
The soccer club manager also listed Sadiq Umar and Taiwo Awoniyi among those he had groomed.
Recall that Titiloye, while working as chairman of the Kwara Football Academy, KFA, had groomed and marketed Dennis Bonaventure, a super Eagles player whose transfer had gotten as much as N40 million into the state government coffers.
He however noted with regrets that in many instances such initiatives by private sector players have not been sustainable.
‘Investors in the Abuja project that produced these players are mostly offshore.
They have since moved on, hence the need to start a more aboriginal project in the Oro football project’ he told the minister.
Apart from Titiloye, Adeboye Adeyinka, who is the minister’s Special Assistant on Grassroots Sports Development , is also one of the initiators of the project while some among Oro indigenes contributed land and other resources to the project.
When completed, the project will have a soccer academy that will not devote itself to soccer only.
‘We intend to have facilities to train for other sports peculiar to the North Central’ Titiloye added.
He also said the facility has farms where athletes can be trained in farming vocations cognizant that not all of them would be successful in football.
Speaking on the project, Senator Enoh expressed optimism, saying that these are the kind of projects government is willing to support.
While not making specific promises, he stated that the Oro project has piqued his interest.
‘We intend to support projects like this. I am here at the start of the project, and I will be here at its completion’ he promised-Team@orientactualmags.com
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