Ten budding Nigerian youngsters will on Tuesday 11th October kick off their run in the 2022 edition of the World FC Bayern Youth Cup at the Sabener Strasse training ground of the famous European champions in Germany.
The young all male players were picked from various states in Nigeria including Anambra State where about five players were selected during a Bayern Youth Cup Nigeria Tournament.
The final list of the 10 players representing Nigeria are; Uchenna Onoja, Ugochukwu Kanu, Victor Orakpo, Abdulfatar Omale, Abdulgaffar Abubakar, Chidera Nnadi, David Emmanuel, Nzube Mbaezue, Sunday Godwin, and Waris Lawal with Abdulateef Alabi on standby
The tournament is expected to hold on Saturday, 15th October 2022 at the Olympia Stadion with the tournament’s MVPs invited to play against the FC Bayern U15 team at the FC Bayern Campus on Sunday, 16th October 2022.
The eight participating countries for the Youth Cup competition include, USA, Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Singapore, Nigeria and Togo.
The Nigerian youngsters enjoyed a 10-day training camp in Abuja where they focused on developing team bonding under coach Justin Ezeude.
Ezeude beamed with confidence prior to the team’s departure that his wards are ready for the Sabener Strasse showpiece.
He said, “The boys are motivated and ready to show the world what they can do.”
Also, there will be an intercultural party for the players to enable them learn about different cultures of the participating countries.
The teams will further play friendly games and tour of Olympiapark (an Olympic park constructed for the 1972 Olympics).
Meanwhile, the life-changing trip will end with a visit to the Allianz Arena on Sunday evening to watch FC Bayern Munich take on SC Freiburg in a Bundesliga game.
The 10-man Nigerian team comprises of Daniel Francis (FC Bayern Munich), Kelvin Agho (Crystal Palace), and Barnabas Moses (HNK Sibenik), now playing professionally.
On his part, the Tournament Director of the FC Bayern Youth Cup in Nigeria, Victor Eden expressed joy that visa that visa that earlier threatened the movement was sorted out.
He said, “I am happy that we have managed to sort out the visa issues that threatened to jeopardize our participation at the world finals”,
“I thank the German Consulate in Lagos for supporting our project and ensuring that the aspirations of these talented players lived on.
“In the end, we paid double the amount we should have paid to secure flight tickets for the boys and travelling delegation but we have to forget all that and focus on the tournament ahead.
“I have had the opportunity to see them in training and they are looking good. I hope they can adjust quickly to the change in temperature which is around 7-16 degrees at this time of the year in Munich to showcase their talent.
“This is our third outing in the tournament after 2018 and 2019, with some of the boys who took part in those editions, notably Daniel Francis (FC Bayern Munich), Kelvin Agho (Crystal Palace), Barnabas Moses (HNK Sibenik), now playing professionally”
