Emanuel Amunike is one of the best players ever to play international football in big European clubs. He is a former Nigerian captain. Amunike has come out to talk about the required reformation to help African players play in bigger competitions. He is ambitious to help young Africans achieve their dreams.
There are some discussions about reforms in the football world. The board has been discussing the best ways to make more competition for smaller nations. For example, there was a suggestion to staging the world cup every two years rather than the normal four years. By doing this, it will improve the competition for minor African nations.
The former Nigerian midfielder said the only way to make the African better is by going and developing young local talents. Many international players are playing in various European clubs, but people forget about the local players. There must be a way to help them grow and become better. But, he paused and continued, ‘how we can aid them to become much better players, and how we can develop them?’. It’s high time that we Africans must converge to develop plans to help young generations reach the sky.
Although the Africans never get to the semi-final in world cup matches, the legend believes at one point an African team will win the title. It’s through baby steps that one can do many things. The only obstacle is the amount of traveling that brings unnecessary stress to the teams.
Allocation of minor funds to support the national teams is also a barrier. Those players need motivation. They get paid to play for their clubs, so they need financial support when they are in their home teams. We have seen many good African players running away to play for European countries. The reason behind it is the resources and support from the national governments.
Emmanuel has been chosen among few Africans to give directions on the world cup calendars. The midfield managed to play for bigger clubs like Barcelona, Sporting Lisbon, and many more. In 1994, he was among the Nigerian team that made 16 in the world cup but lost to Italy. The Nigerians had a strong team made of young players, and most of them were playing local football. However, they lost 2-1 in the quarter-finals, and Italy managed to reach the final.
Africa has had some of the best players in the last two decades. The likes of Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, colo Toure retired recently. In the new generation, we have players like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Pierre Amerike Obameyang, who are at their best. We recently saw Sadio Mane score his 100th goal as a Liverpool player. On the other hand, Mohammed Salah is almost breaking Didier Drogba’s EPL title. He scored 102 goals, which is two less than those scored by all-time Didier Drogba, while at Chelsea, there were 104 goals. Pierre is also at the top for carrying golden boots in various European leagues. All these are encouragements to younger African players.
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