Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) in collaboration with Spanish Football League (LaLiga) over the last two weeks organised a tournament for U-15 players of all the 24 NPFL clubs, tagged NPFL/LaLiga U-15 Promises.
The tournament is a product of the partnership between the two leagues and, the Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Shehu Dikko, insists it has greatly contributed to development of the country’s future players.
Former Nigerian international, Mutiu Adepoju who is an Ambassador of LaLiga also appraised the tournament and concluded that it has yielded fruits for football in the country.
According to Dikko, young talents have gained exposure in competitive atmosphere provided by the tournament and have also enjoyed the benefits of traveling to other parts of the country.
“The competitive atmosphere has been good for the young players and they can now look forward to the level next of their career.
“The tournament is organised in consonance with international football rules and is thus a rich learning platform for the teenagers to become accustomed with organised football rules”, remarked Dikko.
Adepoju on his part pointed out that the Nigeria cadet national team, the Eaglets have players from the last edition of the tournament.
In his words, “the tournament has produced players for the present U-16 team, the likes of Akinwunmi Amao, Olusegun A., Divine Nwachukwu were picked from the last edition as part of the team that represented Nigeria in the Africa Cadet Championship in Tanzania”.
“It has really brought about discoveries of raw talent from grassroots, thanks to LMC and LaLiga for putting up this great initiative,” Adepoju further remarked.
