Barcelona Football Club of Spain is set to establish its first Football Academy in Africa in Lagos State. The football academy will be first of its kind in Africa as it will be located in Lagos, Nigeria, West Africa.
The Lagos State governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode said this today while hosting Board member, FC Barcelona of Spain, Pau Vilanova i Vila Abadal and Director, FC Barcelona Academy, Oscar Grau, during their courtesy visit to the Lagos House.
Ambode said the Football Academy will discover and empower talented youths in Africa.
On his part, Oscar Grau, Worldwide Director of Barcelona Academy, said it was indeed a big honour for the club to establish its academy in Lagos as many of the big names in the team started from such academy. He said players like Messi, Iniesta, Sergio Busquet, Pique, among others, all started from such an academy.
The club has a unique methodology of instilling great virtues in footballers apart from football skills and education.
He added that through the academy the club also aimed to raise excellent players for Nigeria and that the core values of the club included efforts, team work, humility and respect.
Also speaking, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick congratulated Ambode over the hosting of the Lagos International Marathon, saying it was one of the most
successful tournaments in the world.
He pledged the support of the federation to ensure the success of the academy, especially in terms of facilitating the necessary approvals needed for expeditious take off of the project.
He added that Lagos, under Ambode and his predecessors, had always been a major destination for sports.
Pinnick said that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had just approved the hosting of the first ever Beach Soccer African Nations Cup in Lagos in December.
``The tournament is a major qualifier for the World Cup and eight best beach soccer teams in Africa will converge on Lagos for the tournament,’’ Pinnick said.
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