Adeola Afolayan Stays Patient After Passing WAEC Examination, Snubs Opportunity To Become Referee Or Study Coaching At NIS

A youngster who sat for the West African secondary school leaving examination (aka WAEC) earlier this year, Adeola Oluwaseun Afolayan has snubbed the opportunity to start training as a football referee or studying to become a coach.

Sports247 gathered that the double offer was handed to him by an uncle who saw the youngster’s love for football and felt he would make a better impact in the game with further studies and specialised training as a coach or referee at an early age.

Afolayan revealed in an exclusive interview with Sports247 that his uncle gave him the opportunity to study at the NIS and was even ready to sponsor him, because he felt the lad would become troublesome in the community now that he had graduated from secondary school.

However, the very tall Adeola, who features as a central defender for Super Accurate Football Academy of Ikotun, Lagos, stated categorically that he wants to be a footballer not a referee and that he might only consider coaching after retirement from active playing.

“It’s true that my uncle suggested I should go to NIS so that I can learn to be a referee or a coach,” said the fan of Manchester City and native of Kwara State, whose friends during their years together at Universal Comprehensive College, Ikotun loved to call ‘Adex.’

“My uncle has been my biggest motivator and he prefers calling me ‘Dazzler’ because he sees me as a promising striker or winger. He believes that I will make it in football but he does not want me to become useless now that I have finished school.

“He even offered to sponsor me for a coaching course at NIS or fully join training to become a referee, but I humbly told him that I want to be a player for now. I don’t want to rush into anything that I would regret in future.

“For now, all I am thinking about is how to get my breakthrough and concentrate fully on football. I want to be great like Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool and Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal. They are my heroes in football, and I want to be famous like them.”

Sports247 gathered further that Afolayan, who was converted into a central defender by Super Accurate FA’s coach, Idris Adewale Oseni, is eager to stay in the camp of any team with busy activities, where he can concentrate fully on his passion to become a top-class footballer.