Chief Executive Officer and Founder of SPOCS and African Football Holding, Sascha Werner Empacher, has revealed the plans of the club to place as many Nigerian players as possible in Europe, stating that it’s one of their missions.
Sascha disclosed this while reacting to the Super Eagles’ defeat in the final of the African playoff by DR Congo which put paid to Nigeria’s dream of reaching next year’s FIFA world cup through the playoffs, after they bungled their chance of qualifying automatically.
According to the seasoned football players management expert, this vision will help the senior national team and even the U-20, as there would always be a pool of quality players in Europe to select from wherever the need arises.
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“Our aim is to place as many Nigerian players as possible in Europe as we can to improve and to help the senior national team in future, he begins.
“Let’s see if the players we already have in Europe, Emmanuel Chukwu or Precious Benjamin can help the team and others can now follow, this is one of our missions, he said.
“Nigeria missing out of the world cup again is hurtful. It was tight, bad luck happen but normally we know Nigeria should be at the world cup, the U-20 and especially the U-17 which is no longer the case”, he concluded.
Speaking further, Sascha emphasized that their aim in African Football Holding and Grassrunners FC is to become one of the leading clubs in West Africa at U-19 level, stating that their combination is searching actively for opportunities for their players all over the world. Whether Angelo Agbejoye who was in Manchester City, or Rasaq Labode who was in Hannover 96 in Germany or Chizim who was in Graz in the summer, it all points to the kind of opportunities they provide for their players, which will guide them at the highest level.
Speaking on their scouting tournament in Ikenne, Remo, which paraded well over 17 Scouts from top clubs in Europe, America and Asia, Sascha said they have seen at least 12 good players that can make it at the top level abroad.
“We are pushing, the interests from Europe, Americas, Asia and African countries are getting bigger and bigger. Everyone is talking about us and would like to have their players develop in our team, which makes me of course very proud and it’s all thanks to Gbenga Agbejoye who has been doing an excellent job running the team. He is a leader in African football which it is difficult to find someone like him, he stated.
“We have seen at least 12 top players that can play at the highest level which we expect that we can transfer most of them in the coming months”, he concluded.
