By George Onmonya Daniel
A few months ago, I spoke to two Nigerian fathers whose sons play football for junior teams in England. They had reached out to me and wanted to know how to get their sons to go for trial in the Nigerian Under 16, 17, 20, and Under 21 teams.
They told me stories of how they tried to get across to the Nigerian team and were told they had to pay N5 million each to get an invitation to the team. One of the fathers who lives in Birmingham with his family was simply devastated. "How would they ask for money for such," he asked me.
The other father who resides in London simply informed me that he was informed that he would have to play such an amount to get an audience with the coach. It is standard Nigerian practise.
I have made efforts to reach Nigerian football officials to respond, but it has been difficult to reach them. However, this is common practise, and I was told by several football agents.
In the past, players like David Alaba, Austrian international, who played for Bayern Munich, won everything with the team, and now Real Madrid, where he has also done the same, reached out to play for Nigeria at about 17. The coach demanded money. The father wouldn't have it. David Alaba ended up playing for Austria.
Over the years, the junior team that has the history of successes has been unable to replicate such performances. An agent pointed directly to the culture of paying to get these young chaps into the team. "It is no longer about talent anymore, but how connected you are."
Soon, some of these European born or based kids would make it into a big team. England would quickly rush and entice them to play for the Three Lions. Super Eagles loses other great potentials.
