If you are a Nigerian parent whose child has shown genuine talent and passion for football, one of the first practical questions that comes to mind is how much it is going to cost. It is a fair question and an important one, but it is also one that is surprisingly difficult to get a…
Most young Nigerian footballers have never heard of a football CV. And the ones who have heard of it assume it is something only professional players need, or something too complicated to put together without help. Both assumptions are wrong. A football CV is simply a document that introduces you as a player to a…
Most young players who attend a football academy trial in Nigeria make the same mistake. They spend the days before the trial practising their best skills moves, rehearsing tricks, thinking about how to look impressive. And then they get to the trial and wonder why they did not get called back, despite pulling off things…
Nigeria has no shortage of football academies. Walk through any major city on a Saturday morning and you will find groups of young players training on pitches, community grounds, and sometimes on bare patches of land with makeshift goalposts. Some of those groups are genuine development programmes run by people who care deeply about Nigerian…
Every young Nigerian footballer has the same dream. One day, someone important watches you play, sees something special, and your life changes. That is what getting scouted feels like in the imagination. But in reality, scouting in Nigeria works differently from what most young players expect — and understanding how it actually works can be…