Last weekend, Nigeria won the U-17 World Cup after defeating another African country, Mali, with a score of 2-0. This title also ensures Golden Eaglets, nicknamed Nigerian teenager, as the most successful country in the U-17 World Cup. Nigeria has become the champion five times which is the most throughout the history of the first tournament held in 1985.
In this two-year championship, Nigeria has participated 11 times. Remarkably, eight of them managed to reach the final round. In a way, Nigeria's strength at a young age, especially the U-17 World Cup, is consistent from time to time.
Given the history of football in a country that capitalized in Abuja, it is not surprising that many talented young talents ta. There is British intervention-which once colonized Nigeria-in the development of football in this country of more than 180 million people.
Nigeria is touted as one of the most successful countries in West Africa with Ghana. In FIFA, Nigeria once occupied the fifth rank in 1994 where it was the best achievement for African countries.
Football in Nigeria has indeed become its own culture. British colonization, which is touted as the originator of football, since the 1800s to make Nigeria can know football earlier than other countries.
According to Charles Parrish and John Nauright in his book 'Soccer around the World: A Cultural Guide to the World's Favorite Sport', Nigeria has known football since the late 1800s but began to circulate quickly in the 1900s. In 1904, sailors from Britain introduced football to the wider community of Nigeria.
On this history of football became the most popular sport in Nigeria. In fact, according to a columnist on the Ventures Africa website, Hadassah Egbedi, football has become Lingua Franca or the language of instruction in Nigeria. Through football, Nigerian people who have more than 500 regional languages can be more sociable with each other.
Talented talents are no doubt increasingly emerging. The natural talents of these Nigerian players are then honed by world-class academies that are now beginning to spread in various Nigerian cities. In Lagos, the fastest city in Nigeria, there are six academies with top-class facilities.
The first upscale academy in Nigeria is the Pepsi Football Academy (PFA) which has been established since 1992. Although the beverage company is from the United States, cooperation with Britain can not be refuted.
PFA is spread across 13 cities of Nigeria this year sends 20 most talented players to the UK to get a chance to gain knowledge both in the field of football and academics. This opportunity seemed to pave the way for the best talents of Nigeria to have a career in Europe, especially England. PFA itself is an academy that spawned John Obi Mikel, Nigeria national team midfielder who currently plays for the British giants, Chelsea.
In addition to PFA, there is also Papilo Football Academy. The Academy was founded by former Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu. Even thanks to Kanu's strong relationship, the academy often gets special training from British legend Bryan Robson.
The two colleges above are a small fraction of the top-level academies in Nigeria. There are still names like the Kwara State Football Academy, the Midas Soccer Academy, the Abuja Football College, the African Touch Football Academy (CODA) with a partnership with one of England's Bolton Wanderers. In fact almost every year CODA always send a maximum of seven Nigerian players to undergo a trial in England.
So in fact, talented talents Nigeria was born not from the academy teams that are competing in the Nigerian League. The above academies are academies that are intended