FORMER Super Eagles stars, including Yakubu Aiyegbeni, Austin Eguavoen and Seyi Olofinjana, have been named as official mentors for Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) academy youngsters.
The former internationals, who also include current Super Eagles co-ordinator Patrick Pascal, are in Benin City to encourage and provide mentorship to players of the clubs participating in the maiden NPFL Youth League Championship Finals.
While unveiling the mentors at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium during the opening ceremony of the finals on Sunday, Chairman of the NPFL, Gbenga Elegbeleye, said the idea of the mentorship is to provide professional role models who would deploy their experience to nurture the young talents to stardom.
Aiyegbeni was a prolific striker for the Super Eagles in the 2000s and 2010s who starred for English Premier League clubs like Everton, Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City, while Olofinjana was a midfielder of the same generation who also represented Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations and played in England with Wolves.
Eguavoen, a defender, was a key member of Nigeria’s ‘golden generation’ who made the country’s World Cup debut in 1994 and won the AFCON title the same year, with him as the on-field captain.
Elegbeleye tasked the former internationals to use their influence in football to help discover, nurture, and mentor the next generation of stars in the Youth League.
Eguavoen, who is Technical Director of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), commended the NPFL for the Youth League initiative and pledged on behalf of the others to adopt the young players as their personal project.
Aiyevbeni expressed delight at the quality of talents he saw in the opening day’s fixtures and said “some of the players we have seen on the first day have all the requirements to make it on the big stage”.
For Olofinjana, the players need professional guidance to reach their full potential.
He said: “All I can say is that there are potentials in these kids. The skill and mindset are top notch, and if they don’t put themselves under any tension, they have a good chance to play international football.”
Emeka Inyama, the Chairman of the Organising Committee, also commended the ex-internationals for accepting to work with the NPFL to raise the next generation of Super Eagles players.
“It is noteworthy that you have left your private business engagements to answer this call to serve. It is a demonstration of your readiness to reproduce yourselves for Nigeria, and this is very commendable,” he noted.
