Former Rangers coach, Imama Amapakabo has called on the Nigeria Football Federation to do more to enhance Coaching education to improve the game.
Amapakabo, who won the NPFL title with Rangers in the 2015/2016 season, implied that the country produces its best teams to continental competitions every season, yet they mostly fail to make an impact in those competitions.
He said there will never be any real improvements as far as football is concerned in the country, if coaching education does not return.
‘Football coaching education must thrive in Nigeria for us to achieve some semblance of the development we want to see in the game,’ said the Coach.
‘But for that to happen the Administrators must also provide the right environment for the coaches to work.’
The former Nigeria international also highlighted the interference of chairmen and administrators of clubs as a stumbling block to the development of club football in the country.
‘Club administrators only want to employ coaches they can control and they even go as far as imposing line ups on their managers,’ Amapakabo explained.
‘When things like that happen continually and the team goes on a poor run of results, the managers get sacked and the cycle continues, a situation that is really terrible for the condition of football in the country.’
The gaffer revealed that the actions of the club administrators is the reason why the NPFL is predictable as the titles are often won by the “highest bidders.”
He also revealed that the league has been politicized as the teams who are backed by different state governments are often better placed to win the league title.
Imama Amapakabo said because of the funding state-owned teams receive, it often enables stability and they can then compete for honors.
‘State-owned teams will always win, which also contributes to the fact that there has been different Clubs winning the league title in a short period of time.’
