ABUJA – No fewer than 40 candidates on Thursday in Abuja took part in the FIFA Players’ Agents examination organised by the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).
Ademola Olajire, NFA’s Assistant Director (Communications), saying in a statement that the current licensing system would be abandoned as from this year.
He said the examination would be the last as this was a follow-up to a circular from world football-governing body FIFA on the matter.
Okey Obi, supervisor of the examination, told NAN in an interview that successful candidates would help the NFA to discover more talented footballers.
“What we intend to achieve by this examination is to license the successful candidates who we envisage will help to discover and guide raw talents from the grassroots.
“There is an eligibility provision in the Players Agents’ Regulations which you need to meet before you participate in the exams.
“One is that you have to be a natural person in the sense of my name is Okey Obi to obtain the licence, not Okey Obi & Company or all those kinds of things.
“You should not have connection with a club, an academy, association such as the NFF, state or local government football association, CAF, FIFA or hold any kind of position there.
“You will say to that extent, coaches, referees and the likes of them will not get licensed because they are directly connected,’’ Obi said.
One of the candidates, Dare Osunsanya, said he had always dreamt of becoming a FIFA Players’ Agent to help identify talented players for the country.
“I believe that once I have the license it will help me to negotiate good contracts for these players both in Nigeria and elsewhere.
“I don’t blame the players in terms of contracts.
“Make sure you understand any document placed in front of you before you sign; nobody is going to put a gun to your head and say ‘sign now’.
“You don’t just go ahead and sign your career away,’’ Osunsanya said.
He urged players to always verify from the FIFA website the identity of any agent who approached them for talks. (NAN)