The Bavarian great will be in Anambra this Saturday for the grassroots championship set out to unearth hidden talents.
ANAMBRA PEOPLE gathered that the competition – an international tournament series for players between 15 and 16 years of age – will be staged at the new Awka City Stadium, Anambra State.
Meanwhile, selected talents will travel to Munich, Germany to represent Nigeria at the world finals where they will meet other finalists from other parts of the world.
Former Germany international Hans Pflugler will be in Anambra for this year’s FC Bayern Youth Cup billed to take place from April 29 to May 1.
Six years after the Bayern Youth Cup kicked off, Nigeria was included for the first time in 2018 with legendary Giovane Elber and Klaus Augenthaler visiting the West African country to select some of its finest like Daniel Francis, Nwachukwu Christian and Stanley Iheanacho – who went ahead to represent Nigeria’s youth national teams.
The 2022 edition is presented in Nigeria by VOE Foundation, Aspire Foundation and Anambra State Sports Development Commission.
Speaking about his visit to Nigeria, Pfluger, who is a Bayern Munich legend, said in a statement made available to GOAL: “After a couple of difficult years, we can’t wait to get the ball rolling again in Nigeria.
“Our tournament in this country has always been a source of impressive young talents, we are looking forward to giving them once again the platform to show their skill. Our expectation is to select a competitive group of players that, on top of having a unique experience in Munich, will also bring a high-level performance to the FC Bayern Youth Cup World Finals.”
In addition, tournament director Victor Obinna Edeh added that: “The last edition hosted in Nigeria was held in 2020 and with the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic and global travel restrictions, the world finals could not hold.
“We had a training camp last year with remote support from Germany and a friendly game against the national U17 team to help support the development of players we have selected since 2018.
“We are very delighted to be hosting the national finals this year in Anambra and look forward to seeing exciting new talent who can follow in the footsteps of some of our previous participants who currently play football in Europe.”
In his own remarks, chairman of the Anambra State Sports Development Commission, Chief Tony Oli opined that hosting the Nigeria National finals in Anambra State is in line with the state government’s vision to position ‘Home for All’ as the football headquarters of Nigeria.
In the same vein, director of program design and development at Aspire Foundation, Onwubuche Tobechi, stated that Anambra 2022 is another way Aspire Foundation is fostering her mission of giving young Nigerians the opportunity of finding themselves through various platforms, this time on a global scale.
Aspire Foundation,one of the major sponsors of the Youth Cup is the brainchild of Dr Chukwuemeka Franklin Okeke,former President of Aspire FC and former Chairman, Anambra State Football Association. The foundation has been at the forefront of promoting sports and other activities in the state , including the popular Adazi Ani Fest, FC Bayern Youth Team Exhibition Games in partnership with VOE Foundation, Aspire FC Egwu Ogene Contest ,etc.
The foundation launched My Anambra football to improve football Standard in the state and has adopted a strategy that juxtaposes sports and entertainment for football.
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