The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has demanded that the various football academies within the country provide quality education for their young players.
The NFF president, Ibrahim Musa Gusau made this known during the FIFA talent development scheme/NFF Stakeholder Workshop held in Abuja yesterday.
Gusau said any academy that fails to adhere to its standards will not be recognised by the federation.
“Any academy that doesn’t meet up to the standard will be not be recognised. We will send people from our federation with their checklist to observe all academies in the country. No child must be a slave and must be educated in these academies,” he said.
Speaking further, the Zamfara-born football administrator set a target of 2030 to begin to reap the fruits of grassroots development in the country.
“By 2030, we hope to see the product of our grassroots development. From age 23, we want to see players playing for the Super Eagles,” he said.
In the same vein, Gusau has stated that the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) will be introduced to the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).
He stated that the NFF would send some referees to watch and learn from other countries that have already used the technology in order to start the process of introducing VAR in local league play.
“I can assure you that VAR will be effectively put into use in our domestic football before the end of my first tenure as president of the Nigeria Football Federation in 2026. It will be gradual, but we will surely get there,” Gusau said.
