By Chigozie Chukwuleta
Nigerian team for the 2022 Bayern Youth Cup World finals is billed to fly out Tuesday, October 11 for the Sabener Strasse (training ground of Bayern Munich)showpiece, Newspathfinder reports.
The ten-man team was selected after the FC Bayern Youth Cup Nigeria National finals was staged at the Awka City Stadium, Anambra State, earlier in the year.
The Nigerian youngsters enjoyed a 10-day training camp in Abuja where they focused on developing team bonding.
During the closed door camping, the team played series of preparatory games with coach Justin Ezeude in charge,
“The boys are motivated and ready to show the world what they can do”, coach Ezeude said.
The World finals tournament involves teams from eight (8) countries from across the World, including Argentina, Mexico, USA, Germany, Nigeria, Togo, Singapore and Japan vying for the Youth Cup.
Activities lined up for the week long event include training sessions with FC Bayern coaches at Sabener Strasse (training ground of FC Bayern Munich’s first team) as well as intercultural party to enable the players learn about different cultures of the participating countries.
The teams will also play friendly games and tour of Olympiapark (an Olympic park constructed for the 1972 Olympics).
The tournament proper will hold on Saturday, 15th October 2022 at the Olympia Stadion with the tournament’s MVPs invited to play against the FC Bayern U15 team at the FC Bayern Campus on Sunday, 16th October 2022.
The life-changing trip will come to a fitting end with a visit to the Allianz Arena on Sunday evening to watch FC Bayern Munich take on SC Freiburg in a Bundesliga game.
“I am happy that we have managed to sort out the visa issues that threatened to jeopardize our participation at the world finals”, says Victor Edeh, Tournament Director of the FC Bayern Youth Cup in Nigeria.
“I thank the German Consulate in Lagos for supporting our project and ensuring that the aspirations of these talented players lived on.
“In the end, we paid double the amount we should have paid to secure flight tickets for the boys and travelling delegation but we have to forget all that and focus on the tournament ahead.
“I have had the opportunity to see them in training and they are looking good. I hope they can adjust quickly to the change in temperature which is around 7-16 degrees at this time of the year in Munich to showcase their talent.
“This is our third outing in the tournament after 2018 and 2019, with some of the boys who took part in those editions, notably Daniel Francis (FC Bayern Munich), Kelvin Agho (Crystal Palace), Barnabas Moses (HNK Sibenik), now playing professionally.
“We hope the class of 2022 will follow in their footsteps”
The final list of the 10 players representing Nigeria are; Abdulfatar Omale, Abdulgaffar Abubakar, Chidera Nnadi, David Emmanuel, Nzube Mbaezue, Sunday Godwin, Uchenna Onoja, Ugochukwu Kanu, Victor Orakpo and Waris Lawal with Abdulateef Alabi on standby.
