In a bid to deepen its grassroots football impact across Nigeria, AfriSportPro Limited, organisers of the AfriSportPro Youth League, has opened discussions with the Lagos State Football Association (Lagos FA) to include the state in the league’s inaugural season.
The Founder and CEO of AfriSportPro Limited, Chukwuebuka Ugwu, during a visit to the Lagos FA board, chaired by Hajji Liameed Gafar, assured that more states will be incorporated as the league scales up after its inaugural season.
Ugwu, who also serves as the Chairman of the AfriSportPro Youth League Advisory Board, explained that the AfriSportPro Youth League will commence with six pilot states, representing Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones. Currently, five states have been confirmed across different regions.
Ugwu said: “Our visit to the Lagos FA was part of our engagement with the South West states to include one state in our first six pilot states. We believe Lagos is the biggest football hub in Nigeria and a model of football administration, so we identified the state as our first point of contact in the region to join our inaugural season.
“We had tried to get this meeting since the beginning of the year and we finally got the meeting. It was a very productive meeting, during which we discussed the state of Nigerian football in general, as well as the problems our league aims to address in Nigerian football, particularly at the grassroots level.
“The Lagos FA was happy and enthusiastic about our idea, and they believe Nigeria is ripe for our idea to be implemented. The Lagos FA has also shown interest in joining our league, pending further discussions with them.
“We got a lot of great advice and encouragement from the FA, especially from the Chairman, Hajji Gafar.”
According to him, while Lagos FA did not immediately endorse the league, the board showed keen interest and requested further dialogue before making a final decision.
“We are also in discussion with other South West states. So, it will be a case of first come, first served for this inaugural season as we look to admit the first state to ready its structure for the league. As we expand, we will take in more states from all zones.”
In his remarks, Gafar commended the AfriSportPro initiative, describing it as timely and relevant.
Gafar said, “Thank you for embarking on a mission to improve Nigerian grassroots football. Your idea is a great initiative, and the Lagos State FA will vote to sanction the league in the state if the state FAs’ questions are clearly addressed in the next discussions.”
