Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Mourinho Causes Stir in Nigeria


Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has long been a strong advocate of African football, buying the rights to such players as Ghana's Michael Essien and Nigeria's Salomon Kalou at Chelsea and Ghana's Sulley Muntari at Inter. 

Now, the Special One is in Nigeria as a special guest of the Kwara Football Academy (KFA). And his three-day visit is causing a major frenzy among Nigeria's soccer-mad followers.

Fans turned up to greet the former Chelsea boss and the rest of the delegation despite the fact that he arrived two hours later than announced.

"It is a great landmark in the history of Nigerian football as well as the KFA," Nkechi Obi, CEO of Premium Sports Marketing Services told BBC Sport.

"He is here with other coaches and trainers to conduct seminars and coaching clinics for indigenous coaches. We are positive that his presence will benefit the talented players in the academy and hopefully attract interest from international clubs throughout the world. Football fans, media and everyone involved with football will enjoy photograph and autograph sessions with the 'Special One' on this trip."

The trip facilitated by DanJan Sports is widely seen as an opportunity to expose the Kwara Football Academy to the rest of the world.

"The KFA epitomizes what a perfect football academy truly is and Gestafute are happy to be associated with them," David Omigie of DanJan Sports explained.

"We have seen what the visit of Manchester United and Portsmouth gave to Nigeria as a country in the past. The coming of Mourinho and KFA will bring a lot of positive attention to football in the country once again.

Former Nigeria coach Clemens Westerhof is the director of the Kwara Football Academy which is in Ilorin, the capital of Nigeria's Kwara State.

MY POV: Love the work Mourinho has done in Nigeria and the exposure his visit gives to African football. For more on the Kwara Football Academy, please visit their website. 

No comments:

Post a Comment