Flying Eagles, Eaglets coaches warned over age cheating

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has read the riot act to the coaches of the U-17 and the U-20 National Teams to make sure that they invite players only within the age bracket.

Both teams, who are presently in camp preparing for their respective Africa qualifiers, were further warned by the NFF not to engage in any unwholesome act that could jeopardise the country’s qualification.

The board which met on Tuesday, directed NFF Technical Committee Chairman, Yusuf Ahmed Fresh, to meet with the Eaglets coach, Manu Garba and the U-20 chief coach, Frank Aigbogun, to get them on board the federation’s vision of maintaining a proper youth development policy.

“Board, in furtherance of its drive to ensure sustainable youth development policy in line with best practices, directed the Chairman, Technical and Development Committee to immediately meet with all coaches of age-grade National Teams, to issue strong warning to them to key into this vision,” read the statement after NFF’s executive meeting.

The NFF also agreed that all hands must be on deck to ensure that Nigeria assembles a strong squad for the age-grade competitions that would bring honour to the country.

Meanwhile, the NFF has accepted an offer from the Qatar FA to have the U-13 and U-15 National Teams in Doha for a one-week tour, during which the teams will play against their Qatari counterparts.