The Nigeria Football Coaches Association wishes to acknowledge receipt of a letter by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) via the Nigerian Football Federation and the League Management Company on appointing only CAF A license coaches as head coaches of clubs in Nigeria’s elite league - the Nigeria Professional Football League.
This is a laudable effort aimed at improving coaching in Nigeria’s top flight which will definitely have a reverberating effect on other aspects of football in the country.
In as much as this is done with good intentions and we want to also key into it, we want to plead with the League Management Company and the Nigeria Football Federation to intercede on our behalf for CAF to give us some concessions so that we can work towards achieving this laudable goal.
Virtually all the clubs in the top flight are headed by CAF B licensed coaches with a sprinkle that have their CAF A licenses.
It is also important at this point to mention that we have only 43 certified CAF A coaches in Nigeria with a a large number of these coaches lecturing in various higher institutions in the country and not domiciled with professional football clubs.
We also want a review of this rule because for a long period, we have not had CAF A coaching courses in Nigeria and this has greatly stunted the anticipated progression of our coaches from the CAF C to CAF B and CAF A certifications.
The idea is a lofty one and we want to key into it but we want to humbly request that we are given a time frame to meet up with the set requirements because at the moment, we want to encourage indigenous coaches to earn their badges.
It is our hope and prayer that we will be granted a grace period so we make sure our members get their A qualifications as requested by CAF.
We are looking forward to working with CAF to bridge this gap so that we can move football forward as partners in progress.
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