A Dubai-based football club, Gulf United FC, and Committee Of Youth On Mobilisation and Sensitisation (CYMS) are set to offer both academic and football scholarship to 120 Nigerian Youths.
This was disclosed during the arrival of the management team of the club led by its Director, Mr Jordi Shiel, to the country on Wednesday in Abuja.
Shiels said that the club was a leading football academy in the UK and Middle East that had been committed to mentor young people in both football and academic career.
He said the aim of the programme was to raise professional footballers that would also be highly educated in other professional fields as engineering, law, medicine among others.
According to him, the club has over 200 partner universities where they negotiate the right school for the right boy, depending on the level of football skill, place and family support.
“We work in the middle east football and we know that there are many talented Nigerian footballers there but what we are looking for is not necessarily the next Jay-Jay Okocha or John Mike Obi.
“We are looking for people who are really interested to study and would have a sporting family who will encourage them to study to highest level.
“So they will have high level of football skills and also attain highest level of education so that regardless of whatever either as professional footballers, engineers, lawyers or doctors, they will excel for life,” he said.
Head Scout and Consultant, Gulf United Nigeria Showcase, Mr Marcellinus Anyanwu, said the programme was about “study and play in the US and Canada” targeted at Nigerian youths who had sound educational background.
Anyanwu said that the team was in the country to conduct talent hunt from over 5,000 applications received with a view to selecting 120 suitably qualified candidates for the scholarship.
He said that intention of the team and its partner, CYMS, was to select 60 candidates each from Abuja and Lagos centres, respectively.
“We are targeting those players that have good background in WAEC and have footballing skills so that they can go there, play and study.
“So if they don’t succeed in playing football, they would fall back on the certificate side.
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The Director-General of CYMS, Mr Obinna Nwaka, said the organisation had been assisting the Federal Government in implementing its policies and programmes that affected youths.
Nwaka said the mandate of the organisation was to mobilise and facilitate youth empowerment to young people who were not engaged in meaningful jobs.
He said that CYMS engaged with the club to discuss the partnership with a view to facilitating the scholarship for Nigerian youths to ensure that young people from the country keyed into the programme.
According to him, unemployment is a big challenge here in Nigeria as well as youth restiveness and other social vices.
Nwaka expressed appreciation to the club for their interest in Nigeria. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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