A highly-acclaimed football coach in Lagos, Abdulfatai Omotanwa Abdulwahab, has opined that Nigeria needs tacticians of better quality in order to revive the country’s fading glory days in the round leather game.
While using the cadet national team, Golden Eaglets’ inability to qualify for three straight editions of the FIFA U17 World Cup as a case study, Abdulwahab posited that young players in Nigeria are not getting the right developmental pathway.
He added during ‘Hot Seat’ segment on Sports247’s television programme, Inside Naija Sports, that extra efforts should be put into outlining a smooth development structure for all stages of football in the country, towards cementing a better future for the national teams.
Abdulwahab noted, “It’s obvious that there’s talent in Nigeria. You can’t take that away from us; but the problem we have is proper training. We have many trainers at the youth level, but are they qualified coaches?
“We need quality coaches to develop our players from the grassroots. What they need to know at the age of 10 should not appear to them when they are already 15.
“What we see in Nigeria is that players start learning the basics of football when they are already 15. It even happened to me. It was until I got to Namibia that I saw real training.”
The holder of CAF B-licence, FCAAN D-diploma and UEFA C-level 1 certificates, who has also worked in Benin Republic, South Africa and Namibia, reiterated that Nigeria has to join the new wave of football coaching and techniques of training that apply abroad.
“It’s when I got to Namibia that I saw new things, and I wondered if I had been playing football in Nigeria or not. I got to know that our problem is that we don’t have a proper youth development programme in Nigeria.
“All the same, I believe we are on the way to where we need to be. With different coaching courses and seminars that are being hosted in the country, I believe we are on the right part.
“FCAAN (Football Coaches Association of African countries) is also doing a lot in that regard. They are developing coaches with tip-top courses that are producing good trainers.
“Many academies are also developing good players that are being transformed in a manner that would help them with what it takes to move straight into top clubs in Europe,” said Abdulwahab.
Sports247 reports further that Abdulwahab, who currently handles Greenlock FC in the third-tier Nationwide League One (NLO), added during the weekly programme, which airs on YouTune and NTA News24, that new coaching ideas in the country will make Nigerian coaches get better.
