Ending North African dominance in CAF Clubs Competition

Plateau United coach, Fidelis Ilechukwu, has bemoaned the inadequacies of the Nigerian soccer construction, which he says has regularly hampered performances of groups in CAF inter-club competitions.

That is coming within the wake of the losses suffered by Plateau United, Rivers United and Kwara United within the second leg of the ultimate preliminary rounds of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup, which led to their ouster from the continental competitions.

NPFL champions Rivers United didn’t make the CAF Champions League group stage after struggling a humiliating 6-0 defeat in opposition to Wydad Casablanca, crashing out to the champions 7-2 on combination.

Plateau United have been undone by a contentious penalty in opposition to Esperance of Tunisia, falling out on the away-goal rule, after ending each legs 2-2 on combination, whereas Kwara United have been eradicated by RS Berkane in Morocco.

Earlier than the second leg, Ilechukwu had hoped for a fruitful outing for his facet Plateau United and different Nigerian groups, however the outcomes have once more left Nigerians with arduous capsules to swallow.

“It’s going to be a factor of pleasure for me, for my crew, for Nigeria followers if we certified. However on the similar time, now we have to start out options, why we hardly get to group stage of CAF competitions,” Ilechukwu mentioned.

“There are such a lot of amendments we’d like within the construction of Nigerian soccer. We’ve got to deal with areas we’re missing. We’ve got to verify we put money into Nigerian soccer.

What number of instances do Nigerian groups preserve their greatest gamers for 2 or three seasons, with a goal to win the CAF Champions League or CAF Confederation Cup? No crew has completed that. Each season you lose 10 to fifteen gamers. However these North African groups preserve their gamers and put a sure sum of money into their construction.

“Belief me, Rivers United, Plateau United and Kwara United confirmed character, we confirmed the Nigerian spirit, that’s what is working for us. Have a look at the construction and character of their opponents; Esperance got here right here with a chartered flight; can we do this right here? That’s the reason I thank Remo Stars for doing that.

We’ve got to journey, typically transit 5 to eight hours and whenever you get there, you need to face their (North African) antics. How a lot will we pay the best paid gamers in Nigeria? How a lot will we pay coaches? We will’t preserve blaming ourselves; we simply must do the suitable factor.