NFA To Regulate Football Academies

The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) has said that it will soon release guidelines to regulate the activities of football academies with a view to halting the exploitation of players.

The Head, Technical Committee of NFA, Chris Green, said on Monday that most operators of the academies had deviated from the concept.

Green said that soccer academies were to teach the rudiments of the game to fledgling talents who intended to make a career out of football.

“Soccer academies are meant for children in a school setting and not a transit point for professional players intending to further their career abroad.

“Most of the operators of these academies are exploitative and are responsible for the exportation of our footballers to all parts of the world in the name of football.

“It has now become necessary to come up with pertinent guidelines to regulate their activities so that inexperienced children are not made to pay exorbitantly for their training,” he said.

Green said that the NFA would regularly monitor the activities of the academies to ensure compliance with the guidelines.

The Rivers FA chairman said that the Governor’s Cup competition, concluded at the weekend in Port Harcourt, was part of the state’s grassroots sports development programme.

He stated that the FA would soon organise a refresher course for coaches in the state to keep them abreast with current developments in the game.

“The idea is to groom these coaches who will in turn impart what they must have learnt from the course to the players under their tutelage,” he added.