3rd February, 2011
As part of Sports City International Youth Football Academy’s efforts to develop their players, the club have entered into a partnership agreement with Oslo City Club of Norway.
Martin Aneke, a Nigerian agent with the Norwegian team, told Grassroots Soccer Guide, GSG, that the partnership would see Oslo City taking some players of Sports City Academy to Norway for exposure and training, which would help in the overall development of the players in their football career.
“As a person that have interest in grassroots football, I have seen what the coach of Sports City International Youth Football Academy, Tunde Ibraheem, has done over the years with the Lagos YSFON team and what he is currently doing. I think with his pedigree, he is a coach Oslo City can rely on as far as Nigerian grassroots football is concern,†said Aneke, who had once played in the Lagos Principal’s Cup.
“We are planning in the long run to introduce players of the academy to the Norwegian league for exposure. There are many Nigerian and other African players making it big in Norway and I believe the youth players I saw in the academy with coach Ibraheem have potential to further their career in Norway. The likes of John Mikel Obi and Chinedu Obasi were nobody until they were exposed in Norway.
“We are planning similar partnership with Plateau United and the government of Plateau State to give us access to comb secondary schools in the state for talents.
“The beauty of this is that Nigerian have talents that I believe if given the chance can take Europe by storm,†he said.
The president of Sports City International Youth Football Academy, Francis Senaya, corroborated Aneke’s claims, saying that the management of the academy received the news with open hand.
“As somebody who had played the game at the youth level, I think we should encourage Nigerian youths to develop their career with all the supports they needed’†he said.
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