Nigerian football needs a radical revolution to reclaim its glory days, when the mention of the Super Eagles instilled fear in many African teams, according to social activist Senator Shehu Sani.
Senator Sani told Completesports.com that Nigerian Football has lost its traditional style from the age-grade teams to the Super Eagles because of the over-dependence on diaspora Nigerian players and those playing for foreign clubs.
“We must make radical changes in what we are doing now with our football otherwise we might become the laughing stock of other African countries who are investing and developing their leagues and football architecture. We have to return to the streets and schools which used to be the conveyors of our national teams,” the Kaduna-born activist advised during an exclusive chat with Completesports.com.
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Our Super Eagles lost in the final of AFCON 2023 playing defensive football which is new to us. Nigeria has always been a team that uses skills and speed to wear down our opponents before finishing them but the reverse is the case now as other African countries are the ones showing us how to play good football. We must go back to our old traditional style of play to dominate Africa again.”
He added: “I also want to advocate for the NFF to engage six coaches in six zones of the country to select talents and build a team from each zone to come and play each other in Abuja for the national senior coaches to harness the players picked from play-offs. By so doing, we won’t be over depending on foreign-based players.”
He praised President Bola Tinubu for rewarding the Super Eagles players and officials for the Silver medal feat at AFCON 2023, adding that the team deserved the honour.
“The awards will prompt them to greater performance and encourage the other national teams to be good ambassadors,” Senator Sani posited.
Senator Sani however frowned at the proliferation of football academies in Nigeria urging the NFF to ensure that they are real Academies that combine schooling with football and devoid of corruption that has marred good selections for the national teams.
