By Victor Okoye
Abuja, Oct. 30, 2024 (NAN) JURIS FC, main Organisers of the ongoing football scouting tournament is collaborating with foreign agent Marcelo Houseman and former Super Eagles coach Samson Siasia to discover talents and promote unity in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that JURIS FC is a club formed by Niyi Ayoola Daniels, a football lawyer who is interested in helping young talented boys achieve their dreams of becoming football stars.
Through his club, he aims to nurture, train and develop talents whilst working with powerful personalities such as Samson Siasia to help coach these talents and foreign scout and player manager like Marcelo Houseman who will discover these talents and set up a trail brazer future for them.
Ayoola-Daniels, the founder of JURIS FC and Football Lawyers International, who spoke to NAN on the sidelines of the tournament said his trajectory was expressing love and passion for youth development and talent hunting in the football constituency.
He said he had organised several talent hunt programmes in the FCT and discovered alot of talents in the past but decided to do something a little bit different to give it a national flavour this time around.
“That’s why we invited different young stars from different parts of the country, in the spirit of national unity and cohesion within the civilian constituency.
“Also, to be able to interact with the Nigerian military, we also invited the young team of the Guards Brigade.
“So, this opportunity is actually multifaceted, in the sense that, apart from developing the football talents that we wanted to come and see, of which fortunately we are already seeing here.
“It is also a way of promoting national unity and creating a breeding ground for social cohesion and harmony within the civilian and military constituency, and that’s the purpose of this whole exercise,” he said.
He said that in order to ensure that he achieved excellence in the whole venture, he also decided to bring on board one of FIFA’s top class football scout / licensed agent, Marcelo Houseman.
“Houseman is an Argentine who has great love for Nigeria as well and also played football at the highest level for Argentina.
“So, we brought him in here because he is an expert with global recognition and demonstrable expertise in scouting talents.
“We have to give him credit for what he has done in the development of Nigeria’s young talents over the years,” he said.
He explained that the talent hunt/scouting programme was just the first phase of the tournament as he aims to host other grand tournaments starting from the next tournament scheduled to take place in January 2025.
He revealed that Juris FC has already purchased a strategically located land measuring over 7 hectares with Certificate of Occupancy to commence the construction of its own first class football training ground which would be purpose-built to accommodate its players, giving them the best facilities to sharpen their football skills and perform exceedingly well.
He explained that JURIS FC , working with Marcelo Houseman and Samson Siasia will ensure that discovered players will go through a phase of talent grooming, nurturing and development, in order to horne their skills and refine their mental as well as physical capabilities.
“This is the first phase and already, quite a number of the talents here have been selected by Marcelo.
“The second phase is the talent development and nurturing, and also character building and mentality because talent alone is never enough.
“You need to develop good character and ethics, and also mental strength to be able to cope with the demands of football in the Europe.
“It’s a totally different ball game in Europe when compared with what obtains here in Africa and once they have gone through the different phases of nurturing and development at JURIS FC , it will bring out the best in them to be able to play exceptionally anywhere in the world,” he said.
Houseman, who has worked with several African players and discovered amongst others, the likes of Samuel Chukwueze, Obinna Nsofor, Odion Ighalo, Solomon Okoronkwo, Dr Khumalo, Lucas Radebe, Nonda Shabani, John Mosheou, Philemon Masinga
Steve Kompela, Tebogo Moloi, Mauricio Taricco, Esteban Fuertes, Víctor Ferreyra, Jairo Martinez and currently working with Amara Diouf, currently the best young player in Africa, said a lot of talents abound in Nigeria.
He said he was confident that within the next two to three editions of the world cup, a champion would emerge from Africa.
“I retired from playing football in South Africa after playing there from 1982 to 1994. So, I know alot about African football and as soon as I retired from playing, I started taking all the players abroad.
“I came here to look at players and took several Nigerian players abroad.
“The first one was Okoronkwo who played in the world cup, and then went to Herta Berlin in Germany. That’s my idea, to pick the players because I think the future is here.
“For instance if you look at players from Colombia or Brazil and trace their roots, you will discover that they are from Africa. So, that tells you that the future is here,” he said.
Samson Siasia, Former Super Eagles coach while commending the efforts of Barr Ayoola- Daniels and JURIS FC said the scouting programme was strictly for Under 18 players, adding that only right players would be selected and well groomed to start their footballing career abroad.
NAN also reports that no fewer than six teams from across the country are taking part in the programme.
They include; Shooting Stars of Ibadan feeder team, SiaOne Football Academy, Galadima FC, the Guards Brigade team, Phoenix FC and Unique Stats FC.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
