Izuchukwu OkosiAfrican youngsters keen to make great strides in football as professionals will have the opportunity to impress eight Spanish clubs in Egypt in a Scouting programme called The Showcase.
Disclosing this to Prime Business Africa, the Chief Executive Officer of the Showcase, Marc Bautista, who arrived in Nigeria for a Scouting programme in a bid to unearth talented Nigerian footballers, noted that academy players who make up the largest demographics of the project would need great organization and structure from the owners to blossom.
“The Showcase is a project we do to recruit players around the world. I’m impressed by the quality of talents that I’ve seen so far. Some of them play on football fields that are not good yet their talents shone through.
“At the Showcase, which is in the second season, we work with eight Spanish clubs and for one week, they are in facilities this time in Egypt (first edition was held in Madrid, Spain).
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The Spanish clubs are: Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano, Celta Vigo, Valladolid, Oviedo, Albacete, Rayo Majadahonda and Cultural Leonesa.
“At the end of the week, they have to select at least one player from each club. It depends on each club’s methodology and philosophy.
“But Spanish football, they look forward to technical players and for African players, they have this handicap that they are normally strong, and fast. But if they find these combinations between technique and physicality, then it’s very good for them.
“We used the facilities of Spanish Football national team Football national team in the first edition and we had players from Nigeria, The Gambia, Senegal, Ethiopia and some other countries.
“For this year which holds in Cairo, Egypt, in August (7th – 18th), we are collaborating with the Egyptian Sports Ministry and they help us a lot when it comes to visas and so the players are guaranteed to get there.
“Like I said, beyond having the requisite talent, having a good structure is imperative. It costs a lot to put these structures together. This year’s programme could cost lots of money.
“In Europe, everyday, the organization of the clubs in the first teams, they have the time they train, what time they have physios, each player has different plans. We are looking for players who are not just talented but strong mentally,” Bautista added.
The Showcase team will move to Jos and Bauchi for the next round of Scouting after the Lagos and Ogun states instalment.
The Showcase is headed in Nigeria by former Nigeria Premier Football League star, Femi Osho. The team were also in Benin Republic to cast their eyes on some players.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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