La Liga trainers set to storm Abuja for coaching clinic

Towards the take-off of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) youth clubs league, over 100 coaches including those of the 20 NPFL Youth Clubs converged on Abuja for a weekend coaching clinic with Resource personnel from the Spanish League, LaLiga. Another 60 coaches from the Nationwide League One are also participating in the clinic which will be run by two La Liga trainers, Oscar Pruzon and David Aznar.

Another product of the NPFL-La Liga commercial and technical partnership, the clinic for the youth coaches which will hold from Saturday, March 4 to Monday, March 6, will see the Nigerian academy coaches put through the basics of youth team training. Former Nigerian international and Head of the LaLiga Nigeria Office, Mutiu Adepoju spoke on the contents of the clinic which holds at the Abuja National Stadium will be based on La Liga coaching methodology. “This clinic on La Liga Coaching Methodology will have sub-topics ranging from Introduction to La Liga methodology; football training structure and basic technical / tactical training and foundations. It will also include tutorials on advanced technical /tactical training and foundations, football training periodisation & game model and strategy and team/opponent analysis”, Adepoju said.

On the benefits of the clinic to the participants, La Liga representative said: "It is expected that the coaches will be in a position to practice at the highest level at the end of this seminar. The benefit will also result in the players who will be under these coaches to have good technical and tactical foundations to aid them play at the highest level.”
The NPFL Youth League for U-18 years old players of the NPFL clubs and supported by LaLiga is expected to start during the on-going 2016/17 season and would be played on zonal format culminating in a finals. It is part of the League Management Company's (LMC) long term strategy to develop a supply chain of trained players for the league.
The NPFL-LaLiga partnership signed in 2016 have since recorded a number of exchanges between the two leagues including a tour of Spain by an NPFL All-Star team, the opening of LaLiga Nigeria office in Abuja and a LaLiga support for the Internally Displaced People of Borno State through El-Kanemi Warriors FC.