16th March, 2016
Taiwo Adelu
Former Coach of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Christian Chukwu has lamented the deplorable situation that leads some Nigerian players to seek greener pastures in some obscure leagues around the world.
This situation has gone so bad that some players now go to play in far away countries such as Finland, Afghanistan and some other nations which are not too good compared to the standard of Nigerian football league.
The reason for this migration of Nigerian players, according to Chukwu, is the poverty situation in the country.
To Chukwu, a member of Technical and Development Committee of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, “this is a sad situation when you see our young players fighting their way to countries such as Finland and Afghanistan in a bid to play professional football.
“I can’t blame them because of the situation back home. Poverty is the factor that drives most of these players to obscure leagues. They are going there in the name of getting money.
“Another factor is that clubs at home fail to pay good wages and allowances. Many players are being owed backlogs of salaries by the local clubs in Nigeria.
“The most unfortunate thing is that when you consider the life span of these players, they don’t have much, at least 10 years. So the next thing they will think of is to go abroad to play at any league available.
“Some of these obscure leagues cannot be compared with Nigerian league which is better than most of them in terms of standard, ” Chukwu said.