Fading glory of Nigeria’s youth football and urgency of reforms

Nigeria’s once-dominant age-grade football structure is gradually fading, leaving stakeholders worried about the future of the national pipeline of talent.

The Golden Eaglets, five-time world champions, failed to qualify for the next U-17 AFCON and World Cup for the second time running.

This decline contrasts sharply with the glory of 1985, when unknown but well-nurtured home-grown boys stunned Germany 2-0 to win Nigeria’s first global football title.

That team emerged from school sports, grassroots competitions and the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), regarded as the backbone of talent development.

Between 1985 and 2015, Nigeria appeared in eight U-17 finals, winning five and losing three, making the country the most successful in the world at that level.

Today, the pipeline appears broken.

The U-20 team also struggles despite past continental dominance, exposing a shrinking grassroots development culture.

Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, said Nigeria’s failures in age-grade football stemmed from years of corruption and institutional hypocrisy.

Dalung told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that entrenched interests prevented meaningful reforms in the country’s football development system.

He said that challenges facing the Nigeria Football Federation had lingered for decades without sincere intervention.

According to him, the decline is not mysterious but the product of administrative decay and impunity.

He said only bold reforms driven by accountability and political will could revive youth football.

Dalung warned that without confronting “the ghosts of indecision, corruption and impunity,” progress would remain impossible.

Ex-international Emmanuel Amuneke warned that Nigeria was failing its next generation by neglecting youth development structures.

“A nation that fails to develop youth football is a failure.”

According to him, Nigeria no longer matches the long-term planning of countries that deliberately groom young talents for senior transition.

“When other nations are developing their young ones, we are busy playing politics.’’

He argued that Nigeria had the talent but lacked patience, continuity and a consistent development plan.

“Spain believes in their youth and grows them; if you do not believe in your youths, how you expect them to play?” he queried.

Tunde Popoola, Secretary-General of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC), advised that the revival must begin with school and inter-state competitions.

“There should be a deliberate plan and good template for the youths,” Popoola said.

He insisted that talents exist nationwide but remain undiscovered due to weak scouting and poor nurturing mechanisms.

“We must revive inter-school football. That is where tomorrow’s stars first emerge,” he said.

Former Nigeria Coaches Association Chairman, FCT Chapter, Godwin Bamigboye, attributed the crisis to administration failure and lack of clear progression pathways.

“The players are the biggest losers; their careers and exposure suffer.’’

He said that the repeated failures proved something was fundamentally wrong in Nigeria’s youth football system.

“Football administration must not be reduced to political interests,” he said.

Bamigboye said that without a strong grassroots base, national teams would continue to fluctuate and decline.

He said that Nigeria must return to structured youth systems that once produced global champions, adding that only merit, discipline and genuine investment in development could restore the nation’s football identity.

He called for reforms in age-grade coaching philosophy, scouting networks and competitive boy-and-girls football programmes across public schools.

Bamigboye urged the NFF to run youth football like a long-term project and not a prize-winning tournament hunt.

He stressed that Nigeria must go back to the basics — community fields, school games, youth leagues and real technical development.

“Until then, I fear that the glory days of 1985, 1993, 2007, 2013 and 2015 may remain a fading memory,” he said.

Football enthusiasts say it has become imperative for an intensive talent drive, identification and development in Nigeria.

They say such drive entails an early start: vigorous U-15 programmes for boys and girls, scouting from a young age, structured scouting, and developing wide-ranging scouting systems linked to academies.

What’s more, the enthusiasts say there is a need to reinvigorate school football by re-establishing strong relationships with primary and secondary schools, offering scholarships and other incentives.