Engr. Dr. John Odinaka Ekeocha, Tennis Captain of Enugu Sports Club has revealed what the organisers of the Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, must do to be competitive and attract sponsors, Silvernews.com.ng reports.
Ekeocha said that for the league to rank among the best globally, the youngsters should be trained at a tender age by investing in sports education in Nigeria schools.
He called for the total elimination of corruption in the system which he said is one of the major factor mitigating the growth of the league.
“Nigeria have some adjustments to make starting from the officiating and make the football world more lucrative. If you come to England, we have kids been sponsored by companies and they get more interested in football as they progress while in Nigeria Nigerian footballers get more involved in football at a later age especially for the interest of money.
“Here in England, they start from a tender age even from schools and start teaching them footbal and importance and benefits of exercise. Corruption some times is our problem. Some matches are not competitive.
“We have to start from empowering these kids, train them on the essence of exercise and football. From there things will get better and people will be interested. Sponsoring of clubs is very important. It should not be left for the owners alone.”
Ekeocha, who is also a strong supporter of Manchester United shared his experience during the game with Liverpool in the FA Cup that he witnessed live at Old Trafford.
“If you listened attentively you would have heard so much noise from Old Trafford, the Theatre of Dreams. Manchester United and Liverpool have not been best of friends and that match was a very important one for us to retain our coach and put ourselves together.
“It was a very massive and excellent win for us to progress to the next round. We are all happy. One of the reason why I visited U.K was to watch this match live at Old Trafford. It was one of my happiest days of my life.
“Liverpool have been in form hence nobody gave Manchester United a chance. The match was so tensed. Because of the tensed situation of the match, scoring and equalising and eventually beating them from behind in a seven goal thriller match that ended 4:3. I nearly developed B.P at some point, I regained my confidence when my coach made some tactical changes that.
“At that point, I knew it was almost over by having Antony played as a left back, Maguire was further forward, Sallah was everywhere and Bruno playing Center back as well dictating it all from deep. It was joy all over and we are happy to have gone home with a win.”
