SUPER Eagles and Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi is looking forward to raising more awareness on young Nigerian footballers by investing and nurturing young talents. Speaking in Lagos, Ndidi who returned to Maracana Sport Complex in December, the second time in six months, announced his intention to prioritise the development of youth football in Nigeria in 2025.
Ndidi stated, “I want to focus on academy football in Nigeria. That’s where everyone is missing out based on the fact that you cannot name a 16-year-old who plays competitive football every weekend in Nigeria.”
He drew comparisons with European teams, noting, “If you look at European teams, you can name 12-year-olds, and 14-year-olds playing games every week.”
Ndidi reflected on his own experiences, saying, “I am a product of the Lagos Junior League where we played in local government leagues with academy players. We played every weekend and we got the opportunity to travel to play the likes of Hull City Academy, Celtic Academy and the like, so those competitive games prepared us for games to come in Europe.”
He expressed concerns that the focus is often on established players rather than youth development, stating, “At the moment, everyone is focused on the end product and players playing abroad, but we forget about the young ones who want to play football.”
Ndidi also emphasized the importance of education, advising young players, “I always tell the kids not to focus all their energy on football alone but also to go to school because the opportunity to become a professional footballer is really slim.”
He concluded by outlining his goals for 2025, saying, “That’s my aim in 2025. My main focus is to invest in young players and teach them how to understand the dynamics of football at a young age and not necessarily play for agents.”
Similarly, he noted that he would continue to touch lives of young Nigerians through his foundation; OWN Foundation and other projects.
“OWN Foundation is just an idea of trying to give back. I was also in Ajegunle on December 26, 2024 for another programme that is not part of part of OWN Foundation.
This is just a project where we try to put smiles on face. OWN Foundation reaches out to different aspects like kids.
The Christmas get-together is one just for kids and the ideas is to put smiles on their faces and create memories for them. We did one in May, where they all came to play football.
But the Boxing Day funfair was to create memories of the Christmas period. We tend to create memories more like, you know, I can remember some Christmas when I was a kid too and the good memories. So it’s just about creating memories and seeing the smiles on their faces, which is very good. If you do for adults, the kids might not see it. If you do for kids, the adults will see it. So I feel like this is the way to go and another way of touching lives.
Reminded that he was also around in May of 2024, he said he was happy to return to Ajegunle and spend beautiful moments with children.
“Yes, like I said earlier, it’s also about creating memories. They won’t forget this for a long time. The will grow with this memory, which is actually good. This is also not about football. This is just about the festive period and we want them to enjoy themselves. It is not about football or career. Just to make them feel like kids and enjoy the moments while creating memories. Many of them we not forget this memories for a long time and it will help shape their future too”.