In line with its avowed policy of whittling away age cheats from its under-aged national teams, no player from the Nigerian Premier League is among the list of players for the second phase closed camping of the Golden Eaglets that opened in Calabar on Monday.
This development has ruled out players such as Gombe United’s Mustapha Babadidi, Segun
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Alebiosu of Kwara United amongst others from the list of prospective players under consideration for the National Under -17 Team in spite of the fact that they were reportedly within the stipulated age bracket.
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Director, Technical, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme who is in Calabar for the smooth take-off of the closed camping exercise, said the shut-out order of Premier League players from the Golden Eaglets is imperative. He noted that it was a positive development and should be seen as a genuine effort on the part of the NFF at developing new stars as well as the federation’s commitment at eradicating age cheats. The 40 players selected for the closed camping exercise were drawn from those that took part in the first phase screening exercise last March.
Top on the list of players already camped at the posh Princeville Hotel camp is Muazzam Ibrahim who was tagged ‘ New Kanu’ by Supervising Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi when he played an unscheduled visit during the team’s screening exercise at the FIFA Goal Project Package B Site in Abuja.
Also included are players from the National Under-15 team, top-rated youth tournaments such as the Shell Cup and Copa Coca-Cola as well as players from soccer academies scattered all over the country.
Officials maintained that this second phase closed camping is strictly for invited players to enable them demonstrate their abilities as the team intensifies efforts to represent the country in the forthcoming African Under-17 Youth Championship to be hosted in Morocco next year.
