Netherlands’ Investors To Set Up Football Academy In Delta

A multi-million dollar Netherlands-based football academy tailored to groom young lads who have interest in football is on the process to establish a football academy in Delta state.

Already, the Netherlands investors and their company, Global Football Academy (GFA), are currently in talk with officials of the Delta State Government and the Nigerian Football Federation, on the possibility of establishing the academy in Delta state.

BIGPEN Online understands that the Global Football Academy (GFA), a network of Football Academies in Holland, and Europe, is in partnership with the Nigerian-born Netherlands-based environmental rights activist, Comrade Sunny Ofehe and the Ofehe’s Foundation to set up the academy.

The main focus of the Comrade Sunny Ofehe’s Foundation, together with GFA is to train and prepare minors between 16 years in the fields of football while also pursuing their academic development in Europe.

A statement by the media department of the Comrade Sunny Ofehe’s Foundation on Tuesday, said that the mission of the would-be academy is to identify talented young players, provide them with world class opportunities and experiences, help them to maximize their potential, and then showcase their talent to highest level of professional (Youth) Football.

The company’s representatives led by Mr. Dirk Bos were in Asaba, the state capital on a feasibility study mission on the project which promises to enhance socioeconomic status of Delta State and also put the state on the international spot light as host to a global football academy.

BIGPEN Online correspondent reports that the team of would-be investors during the visit witnessed a symbolic novelty football match between Nigeria Union of Journalists, Delta State Council and Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria ( PASAN), Delta House of Assembly chapter which was packaged as avenue to give out some football kits donated to the Ofehe’s foundation by GFA.

Meanwhile, appearing earlier in the state-owned radio/television sport program in Asaba, the state capital, Ofehe said that the idea of the academy like the ones in Holland is to create an avenue for the young kids to be groom at that early stage from where they would be pick to join professional football clubs in Europe.

“We would have a football stadium for the purpose, hostel accommodation and other state-of-the-art facilitates in place for the proper take off, all domicile in Delta state

He said that the investors, namely, Mr. Dirk Bos and Mr. Dennis Bekking who were also guest at the radio/television sport program, have greed that the academy will be established in the state.

Ofehe said that the academy would be situated in a yet to be specified rural part of the state, adding however that as a public-private partnership project, the location would come after the state government had make its input and determine its equity stake in the project.

He said that the project would gainfully create a lot of jobs opportunities for Deltans, specifically the youths from the construction stage to the finishing and kick off where coaches and others who would work in the academy would be retrain by foreign experts.

The high point of the visit of the promoters of the would-be academy who were in Delta state on a feasibility study was the distribution of some hundreds of football kits and jerseys in Asaba and some other part of the state.