Abubakar Bukola Saraki (ABS) Ilorin FC and La Planet Sport Academia State, a sport academy based in Kwara, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on exchange of players for developmental purposes.
The signing of the MoU which took place in Ilorin yesterday, attracted sports stakeholders across the state and some business moguls.
In the agreement, La Planet Sport Academia shall be sending players for developmental purposes to ABS Ilorin FC, while it will in return give technical support to its coaches and players.
Also, in the agreement, the ABS Ilorin FC will build a football business relationship with the academy.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Kwara Director of Sports, Tunde Kazeem, said the sports council would continue to give support to persons or groups showing interest in development of athletes, especially at the grassroots.
He described the signing of the MoU as one of the best event in the history of sports in the state and thanked both parties for the initiative.
Speaking after signing of the MoU, ABS Director of Football, Alloy Chukwuemeka, said the club would continue to run professionally and in line with the details and visions of its proprietor, Dr Bukola Saraki.
Chukwuemeka explained that Saraki had directed that the club be run professionally in such a way that other clubs will emulate.
He said that since he joined the team about 10 years ago, he has not relented on that mandate and assured that ABS will continue to develop local players to stardom.
The ABS Director of Football believed that the game is about exceptional talents, hence, the reason for the agreement with La Planet Sport Academia which is responsible for the scouting of players across the nooks and crannies of the state.
He boasted that almost every Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs have at least one ABS player.
In his remarks, the President of La Planet Sport Academia, Shogo Shodunnke, described Chukuemeka as an honest man running ABS in a transparent manner.
He said that it is these traits that informed his decision to partner with ABS, adding that so far, no fewer than 48 players who had participated in the end of the season Pre-season tournament tagged AMAPRO, had turned professional footballers.
Shodunnke said in the shortest period that AMAPRO began a few years ago, he has scouted over 200 players.
The La Planet Sport Academia President, described Kwara as his home, and pledged to give his best to see that the world best football players come from there.
In their separate goodwill messages, Mr Jide Alabi, a banker, said that it was a good development, seeing someone looking at football from the business angle of it.
He said it is high time that Nigeria see sports as an industry, especially football because it is capable of boosting the economy if the right things are done.
Also, Olaide Ahmed, the President of Excel All Stars, an amateur football club in Ilorin, appreciated Shodunke’s love for football at the grassroots.
He commended the management of ABS, for giving young players in the state opportunities to become professionals and earn a living through football.
Ahmed explained that ABS remained the only club in Kwara discovering and promoting players and appealed to the management of Kwara United to emulate the Saraki Boys.