‘NFF Is Building New U-13 Team’

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF),  has started building a new U-13 team to replace the U-17 national team currently playing in the CAF Championship in Morocco, an official has said.

Chairman, Technical Committee of the NFA Chris Green, told  newsmen in Port Harcourt this week that players were being selected from schools across the country.

He said the aim was to start early preparation and ensure that the boys stayed together as a team until they were eligible to play at the U-17 category.

“Now, we have yet another team where we are picking U-13s now.

“As I speak to you, they will go into competition in the country. We now select them and we form our U-13. This U-13 shall go to replace the U-16 who are now the U-17 as we speak.

“So, we want to take it gradually.

“I still know that the biggest pain we have is lack of funds.

“If we have funds, for goodness sake, we should be able to afford the establishment of a school; of a football school, of the federation school where we keep players like this and they begin to learn the kind of flair, our philosophy of the game; what Nigeria should be noted for.’’

Green said the current U-17 team had a playing pattern different from the U-20 team and that of the Super  Eagles because they had stayed together and understood each other.

He said the association’s desire was to keep the U-17 team together and use them for the 2022 World Cup.

“This team is a very important team for us because it is a team that we want to keep. It’s a model for us that will grow from this U-17.

“It’s going to be a natural progression from U-17 to U-20, to U-23 and to the Super Eagles.