Olympique Lagos Academy uncovers emerging talents at Alagbado scouting tryouts

Olympique Lagos Football Academy on Friday held a free scouting tryout session at the Alade Stadium, Alagbado, Lagos, as part of its grassroots development drive aimed at identifying and grooming young football talents across the state.

The exercise, which attracted hundreds of aspiring footballers, focused on players between the ages of 14 and 16, offering them a platform to showcase their skills before local and international scouts.

According to the academy’s president, Segun Oduwole, the initiative was designed to discover talents early and place them on a structured development pathway.

“This is a tryout program to scout for grassroots talent in Lagos,” Oduwole said. “The reason for this is to catch young talent at their prime, at a youthful age, within 14, 15 and 16 years. At this stage, we are looking at prospects who can grow into superstars, even though growth is never guaranteed. Our goal is to groom young players who can fly the Nigerian flag both at home and abroad.”

Oduwole noted that several promising players were identified during the session, stressing that talent alone was not enough to succeed at the highest level. He urged the selected players to remain focused and committed to personal development.

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“Nothing good comes easy,” he added. “At times, talent is not everything; working hard and smart is. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland are great not just because of talent, but because of dedication, discipline and lifestyle. Ronaldo at 40 is still playing great football. For these young players, they need to work three times harder to get to that stage.”

Also present at the tryouts was Oluwagbenga Adewunmi Adetona, popularly known as Schimchi, founder and chairman of Schimchi Football Academy, who highlighted the depth of talent on display despite the limited number of players that could be selected.

“This tryout is good. We have a lot of talent, but we can’t pick everybody,” Adetona said. “We had about 500 players here today, and we can only select around 15. They are all good, but we go for the best.”

Adetona emphasised discipline as a critical factor in a footballer’s success, both on and off the pitch, warning young players against distractions that could derail their careers.

“In football, if you are hardworking and skilful but you don’t have discipline, you can’t go anywhere,” he said. “Discipline comes first. If you want to play football, you must give everything to football. Lack of discipline has ruined the careers of many players who ended up being banned or sent back home from abroad.”

He further called on government authorities to invest more in grassroots sports development, particularly in infrastructure.

“Nigeria has more talent than any other country in Africa, but we lack facilities,” Adetona said. “In Ghana, there are pitches and parks for young players. Here, we don’t have enough fields. If each local government can provide at least two standard pitches, it will make a huge difference. Talent is not our problem; facilities are.”

Adding an international perspective to the event was Serbian scout Aleksa Masic, who expressed satisfaction with the quality of players observed during the tryouts. Masic disclosed that 17 players had already been selected to join the Olympique Lagos Football Academy.

“Our idea is to set up a European standard in this academy,” Masic said. “I am very satisfied with what I saw today. After this, we will travel to Delta State to find more players who can join the academy.”

He explained that the academy’s long-term vision was focused on structured development and eventual exposure to European football.

“We want to see good development, and after two or three years of hard work, we expect to move some of these players to European clubs,” Masic said. “That is the idea of this academy, and we hope to do it the right way.”

The successful turnout and quality of talent at the Alagbado tryouts reinforced the growing belief that with proper structure, discipline and investment, grassroots football in Nigeria can continue to produce players capable of competing at the highest levels of the global game.

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