BY MAJEED YAHAYA
Nigeria’s Foremost Youth Sports body, the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria YSFON has reiterated it’s readiness to partner with the Nigeria Football Federation NFF to revive Youth football in Nigeria
Reacting to NFF President, Ibrahim Gusau’s concerns about the dwindling fortunes of age grade football in Nigeria, YSFON President Dr Nasir Gawuna says the only way to revive the game at youth level is to work with YSFON who has “deep-rooted experience” and wider reach in all the states. Gawuna says to build a viable football system, Nigeria must prioritize grassroots development, give attention to youth league, Football academies, other youths and secondary Schools competitions.
The YSFON President insists that sincere collaboration and endless positive efforts will bring out the desired “pool of talents” that will make Nigeria great again
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mallam Ibrahim Gusau, had expressed deep concerns over the dwindling state of youth football development in the country after string of poor performances by the Flying Eagles at the just concluded FIFA U-20 world Cup, the ongoing Women’s U-17 World Cup and their Male counterparts
On his part, former African Footballer of the Year Emmanuel Amuneke and other stakeholders have criticised the Nigeria Football Federation over the country’s struggling youth football programme, attributing the recent failures to poor planning and political interference emphasizing that the future of Nigerian football lies in rebuilding from the grassroots level.
The former Barcelona Player insists that while Nigeria still possesses quality young players, the lack of developmental effort has become the major stumbling block
YSFON’s call comes amid a worrying decline in Nigeria’s youth football fortunes across various age categories.
The country’s U-20 men’s team, the Flying Eagles, failed to advance beyond the second round of the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile, a tournament eventually won by Morocco.
At the ongoing FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, the Flamingos suffered a 4-1 defeat to Canada in their opening match on Sunday. They will be seeking redemption when they face France in their second match on Wednesday.
Similarly, Nigeria’s U-17 men’s team, the Golden Eaglets, will miss the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup after losing to Ghana in the semi-finals of the 2025 WAFU-B Cup. The result also ruled them out of next year’s U-17 AFCON in Morocco.
This is truly disturbing and the National Executive Committee and the technical team of YSFON have vowed to support the NFF to bring back Nigeria’s glory in Youth football.