Football in Nigeria I am the answer(From the Economist)
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Football in Nigeria I am the answer(From the Economist)
Football in Nigeria
I am the answer
Nigeria is trying to tackle its shortcomings in world football
Jun 3rd 2010 | ILORIN
Bend it like Kwara
ON SOME bumpy fields in Ilorin, capital of the quiet state of Kwara in central Nigeria, scores of lads from across the country are playing football. The pitch has been carefully chosen. “If someone going past spots me, they will take me in,” says 13-year-old Aderinsola Olakunle, who left his home in southern Nigeria six months ago to try his luck here. As he speaks, he gestures towards a plush complex farther down the road, the Kwara Football Academy.
The school opened as a state project in 2007 and was handed over to private sponsors last year. Aderinsola and his pals hope to impress a passing coach and win one of 120 residential places. They see the academy as their route to a football career and, as importantly, to Europe.
In recent years, a number of private soccer schools have sprung up in Africa’s most populous country. Some have been set up by retired stars who are coming home. Emmanuel Amunike, who played briefly for Barcelona and 30 times for Nigeria, opened a school in 2008 outside Lagos, the financial capital.
Nigerian football needs a boost. The country had a strong team in the 1990s, when Mr Amunike was in it, taking the Olympic gold medal in 1996. But its teams have since gone downhill. Its chances of winning this month’s World Cup in South Africa are 100-1, according to a big British bookmaker. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the country’s smaller and poorer neighbours, are given better odds.
The academies are meant to change all that. The boys are chosen on merit and do not pay fees. In Kwara they are in the gym by 6am and on the pitch every afternoon. In between they study algebra and English novels at an on-site school, and accounting classes aim to help them manage their finances should they hit the big time.
Yet the academies often struggle with their own finances. Many of the ex-players fund their ventures themselves. Cash, they say, is running low. The sponsors of the Kwara school, which has annual running costs of £500,000, have given enough only for the rest of the year. They include a manufacturing group owned by Aliko Dangote, often reckoned to be west Africa’s richest man, and four African banks. Bukola Saraki, Kwara’s influential state governor, won over many of the sponsors but his term ends next year. He says the school must find a way to make its own money. “What if my successor is not a football fan?”
The academies say they will break even once they start selling players. The boys dream of Europe, where they can play for the world’s best teams and still represent Nigeria in internationals. They are also likely to command a higher sale price once established there. Mr Amunike has lent three players to a Finnish club and is banking on eventually selling them. Kwara students are soon to play in trials in Belgium.
Competition is severe. European scouts tend to look at those smaller African countries already doing well. But the Kwara boys are hopeful. “Real Madrid has a problem in their central defence,” says a student about that mega-rich club. “I am the answer to that problem.”
http://www.economist.com/node/16276843
I am the answer
Nigeria is trying to tackle its shortcomings in world football
Jun 3rd 2010 | ILORIN
Bend it like Kwara
ON SOME bumpy fields in Ilorin, capital of the quiet state of Kwara in central Nigeria, scores of lads from across the country are playing football. The pitch has been carefully chosen. “If someone going past spots me, they will take me in,” says 13-year-old Aderinsola Olakunle, who left his home in southern Nigeria six months ago to try his luck here. As he speaks, he gestures towards a plush complex farther down the road, the Kwara Football Academy.
The school opened as a state project in 2007 and was handed over to private sponsors last year. Aderinsola and his pals hope to impress a passing coach and win one of 120 residential places. They see the academy as their route to a football career and, as importantly, to Europe.
In recent years, a number of private soccer schools have sprung up in Africa’s most populous country. Some have been set up by retired stars who are coming home. Emmanuel Amunike, who played briefly for Barcelona and 30 times for Nigeria, opened a school in 2008 outside Lagos, the financial capital.
Nigerian football needs a boost. The country had a strong team in the 1990s, when Mr Amunike was in it, taking the Olympic gold medal in 1996. But its teams have since gone downhill. Its chances of winning this month’s World Cup in South Africa are 100-1, according to a big British bookmaker. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the country’s smaller and poorer neighbours, are given better odds.
The academies are meant to change all that. The boys are chosen on merit and do not pay fees. In Kwara they are in the gym by 6am and on the pitch every afternoon. In between they study algebra and English novels at an on-site school, and accounting classes aim to help them manage their finances should they hit the big time.
Yet the academies often struggle with their own finances. Many of the ex-players fund their ventures themselves. Cash, they say, is running low. The sponsors of the Kwara school, which has annual running costs of £500,000, have given enough only for the rest of the year. They include a manufacturing group owned by Aliko Dangote, often reckoned to be west Africa’s richest man, and four African banks. Bukola Saraki, Kwara’s influential state governor, won over many of the sponsors but his term ends next year. He says the school must find a way to make its own money. “What if my successor is not a football fan?”
The academies say they will break even once they start selling players. The boys dream of Europe, where they can play for the world’s best teams and still represent Nigeria in internationals. They are also likely to command a higher sale price once established there. Mr Amunike has lent three players to a Finnish club and is banking on eventually selling them. Kwara students are soon to play in trials in Belgium.
Competition is severe. European scouts tend to look at those smaller African countries already doing well. But the Kwara boys are hopeful. “Real Madrid has a problem in their central defence,” says a student about that mega-rich club. “I am the answer to that problem.”
http://www.economist.com/node/16276843