‘Barca Academy will help Nigerian kids realise their dreams’

The establishment of FC Barcelona academy in Nigeria has been described as a great window for Nigerian youths to hone their talents.

Acknowledged as one of the world’s football nurseries, the FC Barcelona academy has been churning out stars for the parent club and various national teams.

Barcelona FC current captain, Lionel Messi, is the most famous of the products of the La Masia, which also gave the world Xavi and Iniesta.

Last week, Chairman, Blaugrana Sports Group International, promoters of Barca Academy Group Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa, Leslie Oghomienor, who is also the representative of the Barca family in Nigeria, took time out to assess academy’s progress with in its vision of helping the youths live their dreams and furthering their life mission.

Speaking on behalf of Blaugrana Sports, Oghomienor revealed that since the organization started in late 2016 leading to the launching of the Barca Academy Group in 2017 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium Surulere, Lagos, it had supported various novel and noble initiatives in various sectors of the economy.

Prominent among them is the 1000 Leaders Global Project Group, Neymar Jr. Five, Elite 96 Scholarship, FC Bulmaro and Asisat Oshoala Foundation.

“Our excitement and further motivation today is that a tiny part of this vision of ours, Asisat Oshoala recently crowned African Football queen, whose foundation for the promotion of female football was never seen in this light by us, ours is to enable her further the novel cause of improving the lives of others who may not have the parental ability support and the right guardian.

“My team and I are always very excited and elated when we see people we have encouraged and supported in our little way make meaningful upward movement in their chosen field or career like past scholars in FC Bulmaro, a young vibrant club making waves in the Nigerian football scenes, our students winning a global tournament, which the Americans or the Europeans never won and recently the African Queen of Football – Asisat Oshoala. Honestly, no amount of money is enough for the joy in us as a body. We are motivated and inspired to urge on. And that is our vision. Doing more in the years ahead is top in our agenda.

Oghomienor appealed to public football administrators to look beyond their self Interest and politics and ensure that the ease of doing business policy of today’s government is felt in the Sports industry to encourage more sustained corporate sponsors, investors and other stake holders who are of high net worth and profile value for the sector.

Furthermore, he called for the improvement of already existing sporting arenas to world class standard and building of new ones so that in the nearest future Nigeria would have enough and best facilities to host International Sport fiesta like the World Cup or Olympics.

“With proper management upgrading and maintainace of the existing facilities and erecting new ones where need be and those involved in the running of the sector expunged politics from their books of operational responsibility, Nigeria is bound to be the giant is in this area,” he said.

He revealed that the organization was planning a scholarship scheme for female footballers below the age of 16 years, adding that the programme would be made public soon.