If you listen to the rumours and the bloggers from Nigeria, don’t worry; I do not need your banking details to put millions in your bank account for a small fee, giggle, believe something fishy is happening to Nigerian Soccer.
If you had the pleasure of watching some of the African Cup, you couldn’t help but notice that Nigeria, the once power house of African Football looked slow, timid and to be honest, they looked old.
So what could be the problem?
Nigeria was labelled the sleeping giant and the next powerhouse of Soccer. Strong showings in the Olympics and the youth World Cups suggested that the Nigerians were ready for world dominations with big scalps, which included both Brazil and Argentina.
Soccer great Pele declared that Nigeria would easily win the World Cup before the turn of the century after electrifying performances in the U-17 and U-20 age groups.
So what are the whispers that have escaped Angola?
Nigerians have a bad reputation in the Internet world and are the proud owners of some of the biggest scams. But here’s something new. The whispers that have grown to international angst claim that the Nigerian players have falsified their age with fraudulent passports.
Don’t believe me?
The President of a leading Nigerian club was quoted,
“What happened in Angola is a confirmation of what has been happening in the past where most of our players falsified their age during competition. Most of the players are beyond the age they professed and this made it impossible for them to withstand the pace of teams like Zambia and Benin.”
A former national doctor Ken Anugweje said,
“Our boys are old, we are paying the price for age cheating.”
This is hilarious and very amusing. This could be the second biggest scam in the sporting world. I know what you’re thinking, second? The cake definitely has to go to the Spanish basketball team that won Gold at the Paralympics. The only problem was that the players were neither physically or mentally handicapped.
This scam was around 20 years ago when Nigeria got banned from internationals for a period of 2 years. FIFA banned Nigeria back in the 1988 Olympics for presenting falsified passports. Makes sense looking back at some of the results at youth level. Even Brazil looked second rate compared to the Nigerians.
The plot thickens even further. With the World Cup just months away, the Nigerian Federation has decided to sack their coach and discard 15 players from the squad. Mmm, a little suspicious don’t you think?
The immigration department of Nigeria can change your name, place of birth, and date of birth for around 7,000-10,000 naira. Naira is Nigerian currency and is the equivalent to $46.53 US or the hefty price of $51.79 AU.
So for $50, you can have a new passport and they will throw in a new identity and if you’re a footballer, they will dip you in the fountain of youth.
An American journalist quizzed a Nigerian player and nearly fell off his sit by the reply. The Nigerian said his real age was 34 but his Football age was 21.
If you follow the Premier league chances are you remember Jay Jay Okocha who finished his career with Bolton. How old do you think Jay Jay was when he retired? Speculation has him at the age of 42. What about Obafemi Martins who was picked up by Inter Milan as a 14 year old and played his first senior game when he was 16. His passport declares that today he is 25, but Newcastle believe its 34.
For all you American soccer fans think about this for a moment. Does the name Fredua Koranteng “Freddy” ring a bell? He was the youngest player to sign a professional contract for DC United in the 2004 Draft at the age of 14. Sorry but I don’t believe it.
Nike proudly sponsored Freddy and America fell in love with him.
Where is he now?
Freddy now plays for Aris Thessaloniki in the Greek Super League and I use the words Super League loosely. After cracking the MLS at the tender age of 14, he now plays with all the other pensioners in the Greek Divisions. Players go to Greece to prolong their careers, as they can no longer get a game in the big leagues. Freddy at the old age of 20 is playing in Greece and will inevitably fit right in, if you know what I mean.
“May the winds of destiny blow you to the stars.”
I find this so fascinating that this is done on such a large scale. Obviously this has “worked” so well for both player and country at the youth level, and has helped the players get picked up by teams, but it is a double edged sword and now they are suffering.
From personal experience, it is happening elsewhere also, and there is no real end in sight. Stopping this problem goes beyond just football.
Like you, I find it rather amusing. Not sure I would be laughing if I just got beaten by Nigeria in the youth world cup though!
Gday Howard, Nigeria have dominated youth soccer for decades. What’s funny is the same players that would win the U-20 tournaments, would retire in the next couple of years. LOL
From personal experience? Would love to hear those stories, I’m assuming England and some of the foreign players.
As always, thanks for stopping in Howard.
Always a pleasure reading your blog mate.
Can’t give too much detail but had a few trialists through that had dodgy documents. One lad in particular had promise and was very close to getting a deal but we suspected falsified documents so he had to move on. I don’t think he realized how serious it was and so his story wasn’t very convincing when asked about it. West African, but not Nigerian 😉
Reminds of the Little League scandal a few years back when that Almonte (I think that was his last name) kid, falsified his birth certificate and pretty much dominated the Little League World Series. He was like 2 years older than the maximum allowed age limit.
@Soccer Drills, love for you to comment, but please don’t use anchor texts for your name.
If you follow Matt cutts and google, blog commenting with anchor texts has very little power these days and is a waste of time SEO wise.
Thanks for commenting.