Former Tremendous Eagles midfielder Friday Ekpo has known as on Nigerian soccer authorities to position better emphasis on growing homegrown gamers, warning in opposition to an overreliance on foreign-born skills. Ekpo believes Nigeria’s long-term success will depend on sturdy grassroots constructions fairly than short-term fixes.
In line with the previous worldwide, Nigeria is blessed with uncooked expertise throughout the nation, however the lack of correct programs has prevented many gamers from reaching their full potential. He argued that constant funding in colleges soccer, academies and age-grade competitions would create a sustainable pipeline of gamers for the nationwide groups.
“Nigeria has expertise all over the place, however expertise alone will not be sufficient,” Ekpo stated. “If we don’t construct correct constructions from the grassroots, we’ll maintain chasing options as a substitute of making them.”
Ekpo careworn that structured youth growth wouldn’t solely strengthen the Tremendous Eagles but in addition profit different nationwide groups throughout totally different age classes. He famous that nations with secure soccer programs focus closely on nurturing gamers at residence earlier than exporting them to prime leagues overseas.
“Once you develop gamers domestically, you perceive their mentality, tradition and strengths higher,” he defined. “That builds stronger groups in the long term, as a substitute of relying on gamers developed elsewhere.”
The previous midfielder additionally warned that neglecting grassroots soccer might have lasting penalties, as younger gamers could lose motivation or swap careers solely. He urged soccer directors to see youth growth as a nationwide precedence fairly than an afterthought.
Ekpo concluded by calling for persistence and consistency, insisting that outcomes is probably not instant however will repay over time. He believes Nigeria has all the things wanted to dominate African soccer once more, offered the main focus shifts towards nurturing and trusting homegrown expertise.
