NPFL U- 17 Championship play-off good for Nigeria football- Elegbeleye

NPFL U- 17 Championship play-off good for Nigeria football- Elegbeleye

The second Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Gbenga Elegbeleye, has described the NPFL U- 17 Youth Championship Play -Off in Benin-City as a positive step towards youth football development in Nigeria.

In a press briefing held at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium Benin, Elegbeleye charged the five participating teams and their managers to imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship, adding that for them to have qualified for the championship shows positive improvement in our youth football.
He maintained that the NPFL U- 17 fiesta has come to stay and would be done on yearly basis as a channel for preparation towards building the U-17 team.

According to him: "We are happy that this competition is taking place, as you can see we are very focused in ensuring that Nigeria U- 17 players get it right. This an avenue to know the champions of NPFL and also to pick U- 17 players that will eventually graduate into U-17 National team. We are going to be playing U-13, U-15 and U- 17. From there we have players we can look into through our very experienced former Super Eagles players. Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Seyi Olafinjana, who by their selection we can have a good formidable U-17 youth team".

Many people are asking questions why Nigeria U-17 Youth team are no longer doing well in FIFA competitions, we have won it many times in the past, but in the last edition, we did not even qualify from Africa zone, reasons is that we did not plan, so this competition is coming at the appropriate time. We just hope those selected by our ambassadors will make good use of the opportunity to showcase their raw talent and make Nigeria proud."

"Now we need to have players who are focussed, we brought in these former Super Eagles stars because they are the role model these young players are looking up to. They have to help assemble the boys, pick the best out of them and then recommend to NFF then at the end the selected players will be called to camp, were the coaches will make their final list for the U- 17 National squad. So I want to thank the five participating teams, their managers, the clubs, my committee members and Edo State Government for hosting, and all those that have made this competition a huge success."
Five teams participated in the championship, they are Rangers FC, Remo Stars FC, Kasina United FC, Rivers United FC, Plateau United.The final will be played tomorrow to determine who wins the championship.

A workshop was also held for the teams by the organisers.