By Amaechi Agbo

A total of 140 coaches are currently participating in the 4^th edition of LMC/La Liga coaching seminar in Abuja.

The coaches who are selected from across Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL Clubs, academy coaches, etc converged in Abuja Tuesday to commence the coaching course which is expected to end on Friday.

The youth coaches are being tutored on the rudiment of coaching young players below 15 year of age. The 4-day training exercise which is holding at the media centre of the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja commended on Tuesday, February and will end on Friday, February 7^th.

As a follow-up to the successes recorded during the preceding editions, the NPFL and LaLiga commenced the fourth edition of their annual coaching clinic with LaLiga reiterating their commitment to the development of grassroots football in Nigeria.

The clinic which precedes the NPFL U-15 Promises Tournament is designed to train youth coaches on how to properly develop young talents using the LaLiga methodology and will include practical sessions during which the coaches will learn complex and technical aspects of LaLiga’s methodology.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, LMC Chairman, Shehu Dikko said, “Youth development is the future of football and having the support of the best league in the world, LaLiga has been immensely helpful in developing football in Nigeria. The partnership between LaLiga and the NPFL has seen huge developments and progress since the agreement was signed in 2016 which include having our All-star team go to Spain for a tournament.

“Our administrators went to Spain in 2016 to attend courses and in 2018, we had Atletico Madrid come to play our team”

“Most importantly having this coaching seminar run for the fourth time in a row is one of the most fundamental program we have done for Nigerian football and we are excited to officially kick off the 4th edition of the coaching clinic”, noted Dikko in his remarks at the event.

LaLiga Delegate in Nigeria, Guillermo Perez Castello said, “The fact that we are here today shows that this program is a success. This partnership was initially for 3 years, but because we know how important this is to grassroots football development, we have decided to continue this partnership and we hope for this partnership to go on for many years to come. 

“By bringing top international coaches from Spain to share LaLiga methodology with their colleagues in Nigeria, we aim to train and develop grassroots football. 

“For LaLiga, this is one of most important project we have in Nigeria and Africa. I hope the coaches not only listen but attempt to implement the insights received, and relay to their various teams to produce the best results”, Castillo stated.

Also speaking about the initiative, Minster of Youths and Sports, represented by his Media Assistant, Kola Daniel said “The previous editions of the coaching clinic have been very impactful. At every level of Nigerian football, there is someone from this group who is doing something which is the way to go. The U-15 tournament has also given hope to Nigerian football and we can say that in the next few years, we will start seeing some of the players who have passed through this program competing on the world stage.”

Present at the opening ceremony were the LMC Chairman, Shehu Dikko; the Minister of Youths and Sports represented by his Media Assistant, Kola Daniel; Nigeria Football Federation Technical Director, Bitrus Bewarang; Chief Operating Officer, League Management Company, Salihu Abubakar; LaLiga Delegate in Nigeria, Guillermo Perez Castillo and LaLiga Ambassador, Mutiu Adepoju.

The NPFL-LaLiga Coaching seminar has seen almost 300 youth coaches trained since its commencement in 2017.