NPFL Youth League: Present linking past with future

The decision of the Nigeria Premier Football League to involve former Nigeria internationals in the maiden NPFL Youth League for under-17 players was as sublime as it was spot on. For the duration of the week-long competition in Benin City, Edo State from February 24 to March 2, the ex-internationals, who comprised Austin Eguavoen, Nduka Ugbade, Pascal Patrick, Seyi Olofinjana and Yakubu Aiyegbeni, brought their pedigrees to bear in mentoring the teenagers that competed for honours.

Olofinjana specifically stated that the potential on display was promising for Nigeria. He was eminently qualified to render the statement, being the founder of the Imperial Soccer Academy, Odogbolu, Ogun State has produced several players for the Nigerian top league while having its biggest product in the Super Eagles and Nottingham Forest striker, Taiwo Awoniyi. “I have no doubt that some of the players here in Benin City would go places in the next few years but more importantly would provide the hope that Nigeria needs to excel in years to come,” the former Wolverhampton Wanderers midfielder, who upon retiring from active playing got appointed as the sporting director at FC Grasshopper Zurich, said.

Ugbade also harped on the future but in a different way. “There is nothing as good as developing the youths through the NPFL U-17 League and I want to say that this must continue in the same way as FIFA has done for its U-17 World Cup since 1995 but let this be annual because there are many more talents in many places across Nigeria waiting to be discovered,” he said.

But the annual status of the NPFL U-17 League appears settled, considering that its Chairman, Pastor Emeka Inyama, already stated that the maiden event had been long in the making but has only now come to fruition. “It is a long-term resolve that eventually saw various stakeholders coming together to actualise it. So we can only continue to join hands together to ensure that the youth league is sustained in the overall interest of Nigeria football. From what has been witnessed so far in this five-team competition in Benin City, it is a league worth sustaining,” he said.

Former junior Nigeria international, Anthony Emoedofu, advocates a national competition in the mould of the federation Cup for the youths. “Watching this competition brings back memories of my days as a youth player. At this time, I believe there are more competent administrators to improve on what went on many years ago by organising a national competition that would incorporate the many talented teenagers all over Nigeria and not only the ones representing league clubs,” Emoedofu said.

Commendation has not been in short supply for the NPFL over the Benin City event. General Manager of Gombe United Football Club, Alhaji Abubakar Dan Fulani, said the competition should not have come at a better time when the status of home-bred talents especially in the country’s U-17, U-20 and U-23 faces serious threat from Nigerian youths born abroad. Dan Fulani dreamt of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations-winning Nigerian team that paraded six players in the local league and said although the era disappeared as soon as it appeared, it should be encouraged to return. “I think having the Youth League Chairman, Pastor Inyama, combining resources with the NPFL Chairman Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye would yield remarkable results that would help to reposition our football with the Super Eagles as the ultimate beneficiary,” the Gombe FC general manager said.

Among the criteria for administering league clubs in Nigeria since the system turned professional in 1990 is for all the clubs to have feeder teams from where supply would be made to the main teams or, at best, transfer players from the feeder teams to other clubs in need of their services. Over the years, however, only a tiny few of the clubs have adhered strictly to this term. With the latest Youth League finals in Benin City in which Enugu Rangers, Remo Stars, Rivers United, Katsina United, and Plateau United participated featuring teenage players, other clubs would have to take a cue as the competition enters its second year in 2025. With Rivers United emerging 4-2 winner over Katsina United in this maiden finals, it can only offer more hope for the football rebirth being sought for Nigeria.

Elegbeleye is excited that the Youth League has taken off on a promising note. But he is far more excited that the prospect of home-bred players being scouted for the different cadres of the national team is brighter than ever. He had recently witnessed the Super Eagles’ run in the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire where the Nigerian representatives waddled through in rather unconvincing displays in seven games leading to the final against the host nation. He had also observed that certain spots in the Eagles’ squad could be more formidable and impregnable if they had not been made an exclusive preserve of players plying their trade in foreign leagues. “As NPFL, we have made our observations known to the Nigeria Football Federation about them having a look-in for the home league in selecting players for the senior national team,” he said. The administrator said although he did not intend to make the call for look-in a debate, he would nonetheless posit that if the NPFL had been run as it is in the last two seasons with a series of innovations aimed at making it attractive to the outside world, it should count for something positive in the end by making the Eagles benefit from the system. Very few, if at all, would fault this position.