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Sports News of Tuesday, 16 March 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Former Eagles star advocates corporate ownership of football clubs

Former Super Eagles player, Mutiu Adepoju Former Super Eagles player, Mutiu Adepoju

A former Super Eagles player, Mutiu Adepoju has encouraged the government to transfer the ownership of football clubs in the country to private citizens.

The La Liga Ambassador in Nigeria gave the advice while speaking as a guest at the Ex-University of Ibadan Footballers Association monthly interactive program.

He said corporate ownership of football clubs is the only way for the speedy development of Nigeria’s football leagues.

“That is the only way to go. Football is business, and the government has no business in the venture because they have very many other things to contend with in the country, and not football.

“In Nigeria today, we have so many companies that can sponsor and run the clubs. This can only happen if the government who owns the clubs now, gives an enabling for the business to thrive. The government should provide all the needed infrastructures, and allow the clubs to feed for themselves. That is the better arrangement and a more professional way of running club football in other climes,” Adepoju, fondly called ‘The Headmaster’ during his playing day said.


While speaking further, Adepoju, who spent most of his playing career in Spain, amassing a total of 175 games and 22 goals over the course of seven La Liga seasons, representing Racing de Santander and Real Sociedad, affirmed his commitment to advance the game of football in Nigeria.

“I have been doing that (advancement) for quite a long time. After retirement from the game, I came home to manage Shooting Stars and brought ideas from Spain to manage the team. At the moment as a La Liga Ambassador, we are doing a lot in Nigeria.

“We have partnership with NPFL, we organise lectures and train young Nigerian coaches every year and organise Under 16 tournaments too. These are part of the developments we are bringing to Nigeria,” he said.

Mutiu Adepoju has 48 caps for Nigeria and scored six goals in his 12 years with the Nigerian national team. He made his debut against Togo in August 1990, but his breakthrough came during the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations. He was massive in Nigeria winning the 1994 edition in Tunisia, according to Today.ng.

He was equally massive for the Eagles at the USA ‘94 World Cup and was also part of the squads to the FIFA World Cups in 1998 – where he scored a brilliant header in a 3–2 win against Spain– and 2002, although he did not play in the latter tournament.