Spanish football giants FC Barcelona, known for their easy-on-the-eye style of playing the beautiful game, have unveiled their new football academy in Nigeria. The facility, which is the first of its kind to be set up by the club in Africa, will begin its work of developing young talents from its temporary site at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, in September.
The academy’s Sports Director in Nigeria, Leslie Oghomienor speaking at the unveiling of the FCBESCOLA on Tuesday, said that the aim of the project was to build a facility which will churn out world-class footballers.
“We are planning to have a 7,000 capacity academy stadium with all the sports facilities such as gyms, offices and training pitches”, he said. “The academy will also admit children from ages six to 18, for grassroots development. We hope to do that within the next two years”. Oghomienor also talked about the potential of the academy to produce suitable players for the nation’s U-17 football team.
The project Manager for FC Barcelona in Europe and Africa Football Schools, Inaki Gonzalo, promised that the new academy will run its training programs based on the same curriculum the football club has used to great effect in Europe. He referred to the success of the club’s youth system in producing great players from across the world and said he believed that the academy in Nigeria would do the same.
The Lagos State Government has pledged its support for the project as well. Deji Tinubu, who is the chairman of the state’s sports commission spoke in glowing terms about the new academy, and of the Catalan giants’ values which he said children in the state would learn from.
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