YSFON secretary urges NFF to cede youth football to federation

Secretary of the Ogun State chapter of Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), Kehinde Adeyemi, a sports psychologist, has called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to cede all underage football to YSFON to ensure holistic grassroots development.

Adeyemi, who is also the Director of Sports at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, said the appointment of coaches for the national teams, including U-13, U- 15 and U- 17 sides, should be done by YSFON because it is better placed to manage all under age football in the country.

“YSFON’s numerous contributions to the development of age grade football remain unequalled in Nigeria,” he said, adding that YSFON’s performance in the last 50 years indicates that the body is capable of managing youth football in Nigeria with good results.

He advised the NFF to restrict itself to the management of the Super Eagles and Super Falcons for good results and allow YSFON administer youth football because of its lofty understanding and pedigree in youth football.

The YSFON secretary believes there would be a revolution in Nigerian football if YSFON takes over youth football, adding, “By the time YSFON takes over, there won’t be problem graduating the players from one age category to another, as the body has different good youth programmes and enormous data from U-13 to U-17 that is capable of taking care of ills bedeviling our age grade football system.”

He also submitted, “What is wrong with grassroots youth football in Nigeria is traceable to the decision of the football governing body that abandoned YSFON, which produced the many talents that we had witnessed in the last few decades.”