Barcelona To Start Academy In Lagos

Spanish football giants, Barcelona FC has partnered with the Lagos State to establish its first Football Academy in the metropolis.

Representatives of the popular club were in Lagos to meet with the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Monday to discuss how to make the dream a reality.

Ambode, who welcomed the idea, promised several La Liga champions of maximum support of the state government in ensuring the successful take off of the project.

The governor, who expressed joy at the initiative, noted that this was in line with his administration’s philosophy for sports development in the state.

Ambode, who received his visitors at the Lagos House in Ikeja, said sport was the future of service to create a platform for youth employment and youth engagement in Lagos.

In his remarks, Worldwide Director of Barcelona Academy, Oscar Grau, said it was indeed a big honour for the club to establish its Academy in Lagos, as many of the big names in the team started from such Academy.

Also speaking at the occasion, Director of Business and Member of FC Barcelona Management Board, Pau Vilanova i Vila-Abadal, who led the team to the State House, thanked Ambode for the support given to them so far in actualizing the project.

He said FC Barcelona decided to establish its Academy in Lagos due to the impressive population of the state, and the opportunity to share the philosophy of the team with the state.

Ambode was later presented with jersey number 10 of the club.

Barcelona FC has a huge fan base in Nigeria, Lagos especially. Former Nigerian international, Emmanuel Emunike, was played for the club in the 90s. He was signed by Barca in the 1996 and released by the club in 2000 after his stay there was marred by injury which kept him out for about three seasons.