The last time a Nigerian made the last three
nomination of the African Footballer of the Year was eight years ago, when
Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha finished third behind Samuel Eto'o and Didier Drogba.
In international competitions involving the
nation's senior team, the Super Eagles last won a major trophy in 1994 in Tunisia
during the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Nigerian senior women's team, the Super Falcons
have also seen their dominance on the continent threatened as they surrendered
their African title this year in Equatorial Guinea.
Players at youth national team level have found it
hard to make the senior grades after stellar performances with Under17s,
Under20s and Under23s.
In recent most months, this has led to the
development and technical aspects of the sport in Nigeria being called into
question.
And one man, Horst Wein, a famous football
professor, believes that Nigeria is still operating on an old-fashioned model
for football development.
Current state of football development
During a recent trip to
Nigeria, Wein performed free training demonstration of his 'Funino'
model at the Agege Stadium in Lagos. The 'Funino' model is a
three-versus-three-player training with four goalposts, which Wein believes is
best for developing young footballers.
He revealed, "It is total abuse on the
kids what is happening in football here [in Nigeria]. The kids, who are under
the age of 14, are treated like adults when they are not even ready, and that's
why you see them play in an animal-like manner. I took two 14-year-olds through
few minutes sessions and they couldn't understand a simplified modern model of
the game like three-versus-three.
"It shows these kids have been schooled
in very old models used about 50 or more years ago, where they are
mostly allowed to play in 11-a-side games. It also shows that Nigeria is
still 50 years behind in football model. And if they want to catch up,
they will need to change that. The children need to start the game first
in their head and finish with their feet.
"So that's why 'Funino' is based on three
critical phases of perception: understanding, decision-making and execution.
This helps build the character of players for different match situations and
this also include physical conditioning as well," he explained.
The German lecturer further explained the
assimilation process in football development for different underaged players.
"The training pattern for an Under10 is
different for a 14-year-old and so on. These kids shouldn't be thrown straight
into 11-a-side football because at their age they are not just ready for such.
With this kind of approach, the concept of intelligence in the game is
defeated," he explained.
Poor development rating
Wein has identified Nigeria's problem in football
development, and somehow this correlates with the rating of Caf's Technical
Committee on the nation being among the worst three in football development.
Nigeria's problem has also stemmed from mostly the
absence of grading of coaches, according to Caf instructor, Adegboye Onigbinde.
"Let me tell you one thing. Few months ago, we
were in Seychelles for the annual technical committee meeting of Caf and
Nigeria was rated one of the worst three countries in terms of football
development," he said to a Nigerian newspaper recently.
"Do you know why the rating bothers me? I can
show you commendation letters from Caf, and the development programme Caf is
running emanated from my recommendations in 1988. Yet, it was my country that
was not moving.
"Ghana has trained no fewer than 200 C-License
holders, the same with B-License. I was in Ghana months ago to supervise their
A-License, but we are still battling with C-License in this country. I had to
overstretch myself to make it a possibility."
NFF's response to Wein
In spite of the alarm raised over time on football
development, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) froze out Wein, according to
Fifa/Uefa match agent based in Belgium, Julius Owen Ighodaro, who brought the
German to the West African nation this month.
"He gave free demonstration at the Agege
Stadium when he came recently. The kids had fun. But I spent my own money on
(flight) ticket and hotel (lodgings) to bring Horst as the NFF refused to
support us. They said no cash or budget for it. We hope they will recall Horst
to Nigeria soon," Ighodaro said.
The NFF has remained mum on the issue.
Wein's plan for Nigeria
The German, despite of NFF's snub, is proposing three
strategic plans for Nigeria - starting well, staying involved and
striving for excellence. The strategic plans are meant to help Nigeria's
coaching education programme, according to Wein.
But he believes that huge investment should
be made on youth team coaches to ensure that they become "more
experienced, inspired and effective" in improving the level of football
development in the country.
Beneficiaries of Wein's model
Reigning African champions, Zambia are one of the
beneficiaries of Wein's model, according to Ighodaro. Eight years after the
Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) embraced Wein's plan, they emerged Afcon
champions this year with a side largely made up of home-grown talents. Tunisia
are the latest African nation to accept Wein's theory.
"He went to Zambia eight years ago and today
they are African champions. Horst Wein has also gone to Tunisia (this month) to
train their coaches and the Tunisian FA paid all his expenses," Ighodaro
said.
Spain and FC Barcelona are one of the biggest
beneficiaries from Wein's works. Many insiders believe Wein's book 'Fútbol a la
medida del niño' (meaning "Football tailored to the child') was adopted by
the Royal Spanish Football Federation's centre of studies, development and
research since 1993.
The book is believed to be a guide to an optimal
coaching and learning model to unlock and develop the innate potential of young
football players, which has helped Spain and FC Barcelona produced
world-beaters.
Yet Spain are one of ten Fifa member nations yet to
activate their Goal project with the world soccer governing body.
Dozens of European clubs including Arsenal,
Sunderland, Leeds United, Villareal, Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04 and Inter Milan
as well as national associations like England, Scotland, Spain, Portugal,
Germany, Italy, Denmark and Australia have adopted Wein's works.
His work also cuts across football as it has been
applied in field and ice hockey by 19 nations affiliated to the International
Hockey Federation.
Wein has mentored about 11,000 coaches in more than
54 nations and has published about 34 text books used by national football and
hockey federations across the globe.
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