Lithuanian Club Kauno Relish Successful Talent Scouting in Nigeria

FK Kauno Zalgiris of Lithuania Director of Football, Emantas Puras, says that the club has discovered a lot of talents during a week-long scouting program in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, adding that he was delighted the exercise turned out to be a huge success, Completesports.com reports.

During a media briefing to update stakeholders on the program, the FK Kauno chief acknowledged that the program tagged ‘Kwara Street Soccer and Scouting Competition’ was a huge success.

The FK Kauno boss disclosed that the program which was the first of its kind in Africa, was held in partnership with Sportiqo Africa, stressing that they spotted players who could be introduced into the Lithuanian league directly.

“We are surprised by the talents we have seen, we can’t give the accurate number of players now because the program is still ongoing.

“Some of the guys we have seen will still stay in Nigeria while others can go straight into our league in Lithuania, so, we can’t even say this is what we have seen finally,” Puras said.

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Puras was impressed with the quality of facilities and the organisation standard of the Kwara Football Academy (KFA), noting that the partnership with Sportiqo Africa would go a long way in assisting upcoming players towards achieving their goals of becoming future Stars.

The Chief Executive Officer of Sportiqo Africa, the facilitator of the scouting program, Emmanuel Okeke, asked Kwarans to support the present administration in the State because it has huge passion for sports development.

“The government did not think twice when we brought the proposal to them, it is the first time we are doing this in Nigeria.

“Our target is to help talented Nigerian youths to achieve their dreams through football,” Okeke said.

Kwara State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development Joana Nnazua Kolo speaks during the press conference of Kwara Street Soccer and Scouting Competition

The Kwara State Commissioner for Sports and Youth Development, Joana Nnazua Kolo, said the state Government was determined to consolidate on the existing enabling environment for sports development in the state from the grassroots

Kolo reaffirmed the commitment of the State government to partner with relevant stakeholders to develop sports in all the 16 local government areas of the state in order to encourage and nurture the upcoming players and athletes to stardom and as well as represent the state in future national and international competitions.

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In his remark, Sportiqo Africa Senior Partner, Tope Onifade, commended the Kwara State government for providing the conducive atmosphere for youths to showcase their talents and potentials through the Kwara Football Academy (KFA).

He pointed out that Sportiqo Africa is in Ilorin to scout for football talents through street soccer competition and that the discovered players would be provided opportunity in Europe to develop their full football careers.

Onifadez while answering questions from journalists, confirmed that Sportiqo Africa brought the scouting competition to the state to assist children of the less privileged in the state who are passionate about professional football.