Italian football giant, AS Roma has confirmed its first presence on the African soil, with a partnership with Nigerian club side, Garden City Panthers of Abuja.
The club confirmed this on Wednesday via its website, www.asroma.com/en, that it had entered an agreement with Garden City Panthers to run a football academy in Nigeria.
“The link between AS Roma and the African country grows ever closer with this latest news, which will see young boys from the age of 5-17 given the chance to follow the same training methods experienced by their compatriots in the Italian capital.
“The new academy will be run in conjunction with local club Garden City Panthers FC, and is the club’s first on the African continent.
“We are really pleased to have begun this partnership with the club,” said Robinson Adakosa, President of Garden City Panthers FC.
“This project is the result of our great relationship with AS Roma, based on creating opportunities and training programmes for Nigerian children through our academies.
“This new collaboration is an important milestone for all of us,” the club said via its official website.
The club also explained that its coaching staff from the Giallorossi will help support the work done by local coaches, advising them on methods and techniques to help all students grow and develop.
In addition, a total of 60 scholarships will be made available to the most talented players at U-13, U-15 and U-17 levels.
The new academy marks the first in a planned expansion throughout the region, with further AS Roma Academy sites being worked on in Port Harcourt, Yenagoa, Lagos and Benin City.
The close bond between Roma and the country of Nigeria began in 2018 when, with Italy not participating at that summer’s World Cup, the Giallorossi ‘adopted’ the Super Eagles as the team they would support.
Initially a social media initiative, led to the creation of the club’s Pidgin-language social media account, along with a subsequent link-up with the Nigerian FA.
“In the last few years a digital link between Nigeria and our club has been formed,” said Francesco Calvo, Roma’s Chief Commercial Officer.
“Opening our first academy on the continent is a natural and positive result of that, especially in an area of the world where so many boys and girls love the game.
“We want to give them the opportunities and resources to help their development as both footballers and people.”
Confirming the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, Adakosa said that all the paper works have been completed.
He said the Coronavirus pandemic denied both Roma and Garden City Panthers a formal ceremony,  adding several meetings took place via Zoom before the agreement was reached.
Adakosa explained that Garden City Panthers and Edo State Government are in talks to have a branch of the academy in Benin City.
“We will be extending our tentacles to some parts of the country, so that we can spread our search for talented players across the country.
“I am delighted about this partnership and it is the beginning of many things to come through Garden City Panthers FC,” Adakosa said.