By Wakawaka Sports
Retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, has urged Nigeria to invest more in grassroots football and reduce the national team’s dependence on foreign-based players.
Ali, who described himself as “retired but not tired,” said Nigeria has the population, youthful talents and football potential to compete with the best in the world but must develop its local players.
Expressing disappointment over Nigeria’s failure to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the senior FIFA World Cup, he urged the national team coaches to look inward, identify talents in the domestic league and blend them with a few experienced foreign-based professionals.
Citing South Africa as an example, Ali stressed that developing homegrown players through proper training and grassroots programmes would help Nigeria build a stronger and more competitive national team.
We should rely more on our local players and see how we can train them to blend with some of these foreign-based players. Then we will see a good team coming up,” he said.
