The FC Bayern Youth Cup World Title will have Nigeria as its home for another year after Team Nigeria won the Cup for a second successive year.
The team who were made up of boys born in 2007 and 2008 were selected at the National Finals in Enugu.
They had a brief camp in France before attending the World Finals in Munich. The participating teams from Rwanda, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, USA, India, Germany and Nigeria were welcomed by a Bayern Board member who conducted the draws.
Nigeria landed in the group with Rwanda, USA and South Africa.
Participants enjoyed a training session with FC Bayern Youth Coaches and had friendly games arranged to help warmup the teams. Nigeria defeated India 2-0, lost 2-1 to Mexico and beat Argentina 1-0 in the preparatory friendlies.
It was a different story on tournament day with Rwanda holding Team Nigeria to a goalless draw in the first game. Nigeria defeated USA 2-0 in the second game and ended the group stages with a 1-1 draw with South Africa.
The semi finals saw a repeat of the friendly against Mexico but this time, Team Nigeria recorded an emphatic 4-0 win to advance to the final where a lone goal against South Africa was enough to lift the trophy one more time.
Solomon Moses from Nigeria was named the best GK at the tournament and joined the team of the tournament alongside fellow Nigerians Sodiq Muhammed, Saviour Mathias and Idris Bashir.
According to Victor Edeh, the Tournament Director for the Bayern Youth Cup in Nigeria, “It is great to see the boys record success in the end after some tricky games at the friendlies and the tournament”,
“They learnt a lot on this trip and hopefully we can have some of them follow in the footsteps of Daniel Francis, Victor Orakpo and other graduates who now play professionally”,
“We are already looking forward to the 2024 edition in Nigeria and thank FC Bayern for the opportunity they are offering these players to showcase their God given talent”
