Nigeria’s football is rising again

Kelechi Iheanacho

For a long time Nigeria’s football was in a state of coma. Nothing seemed able to revive it. The country that produced some of the world’s most exciting players had apparently lost its mojo.

Odion Ighalo

Time was when our football players were the toast of football fans across the world. Other African countries held us in awe and great football nations could only ignore us at their peril.

The 1994 FIFA ranking placed us in fifth place, a position we have not even come close to since then. In the 1990s our players were constant participants in the UEFA Champions League and some even ended up winning it.

Alex Iwobi

Victor Osimhen

Competition for places in the Super Eagles was so hot that Victor Ikpeba who later became African Footballer of the Year could not make it to USA 94. Same with the likes of Tijjani Babangida and Richard Owobokiri.

German superstar Jurgen Klinsmann, Ikepba’s teammate at French club Monaco at the time, was so shocked at Ikpeba’s exclusion from the USA 94 team that he quipped, “your team must be loaded with great players if Victor could not make the team.” He was right.

Nigeria won the 1994 African Cup of Nations and football gold at the 1996 Olympic Games. Nigerian players were always in contention for the prestigious African Footballer of the Year award – and many ended up winning it.

In 1996 six Nigerians were in CAF’s top 10 of Africa’s best players. That is the highest from a single nation in the history of the awards. The Super Eagles were flying high and even the sky was not their limit.

But things soon took a nosedive. The Eagles, who always managed to reach the semi-finals of the Cup of Nations, now struggle to qualify for the competition. Many of the players in the current squad are not known by majority of fans in the country since they were plying their trade in unknown clubs.

But things seem to be looking up. The dark clouds have parted and the future looks bright again.

Nigeria won the Under-17 World Cup back-to-back and most of those boys are becoming men. They are sought after by some of the biggest clubs in Europe. And those who are already there are bringing glory to themselves and the country.

Arsenal is the front-runner to buy two Nigerian prodigies Kelechi Nwakwali and Samuel Chukwueze who are being tracked by a host of Europe’s top clubs. Nwakwali, an attacking midfielder, was the Most Valuable Player of the Under-17 World Cup in 2015. Chukwueze, a winger, also impressed.

They will join Alex Iwobi, 19, nephew of the legendary Jay-Jay Okocha, at the Emirates. Arsene Wenger has already told England that they have lost a gem in Iwobi, one of Arsenal’s most promising teenagers. The midfielder, who grew up in England, had played that country’s youth teams.

Victor Osimhen, who scored 10 goals to win the golden boot at the 2015 Under-17 World Cup, was voted CAF Youth Player of the Year in January. He turned down Arsenal and has agreed a deal with German club Wolfsburg. However, the deal will come into effect on January 1, 2017 because under FIFA regulations, a player cannot sign a professional contract until he is 18 years old. The striker will turn 18 on December 29, 2016.

Victor is already on the road to fame: he was named the 2015 CAF Youth Player of the Year.

Taiwo Awoniyi, on loan at German Bundesliga 2 side, FSV Frankfurt, from English giants Liverpool, is another budding player to watch out for. Awoniyi and Osimhen were in the team that won the 2015 Under-23 African Cup of Nations in Senegal. Already analysts have predicted that both strikers will combine well in future to give the Eagles a super-potent strike force.

There is also 20-year-old striker Etebo Oghenekaro of Warri Wolves. He was the top scorer with five goals at the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations and was voted CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year in January.

Young Kelechi Ihenacho is drawing gasps at star-studded Manchester City. In January 2016 he scored his first career hat trick in the FA Cup match against Aston Villa, also setting up the fourth goal for Raheem Sterling. And he is just 19.

In 2013, Kelechi was voted Under-17 World Cup Most Valuable Player and CAF Most Promising Talent of the Year. The next year he was nominated for the English Premiership Golden Boy Award, which was eventually won by Anthony Martial of Manchester United.

Odion Ighalo has emerged as one of the most feared strikers in England. Last year the Watford striker was the highest goals scorer in the four divisions in England with over 30 goals. The 26-year-old was voted Premier League Player of the Month in December 2015.

Suddenly Nigeria’s talent pool is looking rich again and the future looks bright once again. But one of the best ways to bring up more prodigious talent is to improve the drastically Nigerian Premier League.

If Nigeria’s rich folks invest in the clubs, football will grow in leaps and bounds. They can take a cue from Chinese billionaires who have poured millions of dollars into the Chinese league and have ended up attracting players from all over the world.

Their investment has also attracted a five-year TV deal worth 830 million pounds, eclipsing the previous one that stood at around 35 million pounds a year.

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, dreams of owning Arsenal one day. He would do well to start by nurturing a club in Nigeria to greatness. The local league needs football-loving business moguls like him.