Spanish giants, Barcelona Football Club are on the verge of establishing a football academy in Lagos towards instilling footballing skills and education in young Nigerians and other Africans.
Disclosed this to newsmen yesterday, FC Barcelona’s Director of Business and Member of Management, Pau Vilanova Vila-Abadal, who led Barcelona’s team to Lagos State House yesterday, said the club decided to establish an academy in Lagos due to the impressive population of the state, and the opportunity to share the philosophy of the team with the state.
Also, Worldwide Director of Barcelona Academy, Oscar Grau, explained that it was an honour for the club to establish its academy in Lagos, noting that Lagos has numerous hidden talents that could be tapped into to get future stars as many of the big names in Barcelona started from such academy.
“Players like Messi, Iniesta, Sergio Busquet, Pique, among others, all started from such Academy. Barcelona has a unique methodology of instilling great virtues in footballers, apart from footballing skills and education,” he said.
He added that through the Academy, the club also plans to raise excellent players for Nigeria, and that the core values of the club included efforts, team work, humility and respect.
Responding to the gesture, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode who welcomed the decision of FC Barcelona to establish its first football academy in Africa in Lagos pledged maximum support of his administration in ensuring the successful take off of the project.
Ambode said he was delighted with the development, as it was in sync with his administration’s philosophy for sports development.
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