The youths of today, they say, are the leaders of tomorrow. This is a popular saying all over the world. However, there must be an enabling template to make the youths grow fast in their respective disciplines. There must also be a deliberate plan to expose them duly to be at the same level with their counterparts in other parts of the world.

In 1985, a bunch of very young Nigerian footballers travelled out of the country unnoticed but somehow, these players who were products of the then Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), schools sports and grassroots, ruled the world in style in the first-ever FIFA U-16 World Cup tournament. Not many heard about the competition until the Golden Eaglets qualified to play Germany in the final.

Even in the final, followers of the round leather game expected an easy run for the Germans but in the end, the Nigerian team led by Nduka Ugbade defeated Germany 2-0 to lift the trophy. It was the country’s first major global triumph. That was a competition that made many people in Europe and other parts of the world to reckon with Nigeria. It became clear that the country was blessed with enormous talents not only in football but other sporting disciplines.

After the exploits in 1985, the country’s U-17 team was in the final again in 1993 and the Eaglets defeated Ghana in the final. In 2007, 2013 and 2015, Nigeria also emerged champions of the world at this level of football. On three occasions (1987, 2001 and 2009), Nigeria lost in the final of the U-17 World Cup. And so with five wins out of eight finals played, the Eaglets are the overall best team in the competition till date. The country is followed by Brazil with four wins.

But the recent trend has shown a sharp drop in the performances of the age-grade football teams. This is because the U-20 team is also facing similar decline. The Flying Eagles despite winning the African title seven times are yet to win at global stage but have featured in a couple of final matches.

The FIFA U-17 World Cup is again coming up but sadly, the Eaglets will be missing out for the second consecutive time. Only last week the Confederation of Africa Football picked four extra slots to join the 12 automatic qualifiers for the AFCON tournament billed for Morocco later in the year. The Nigeria U-17 national team finished third behind eventual winners, Burkina Faso and runners-up Cote D’Ivoire who picked the two region’s automatic tickets at the WAFU B championship held in Ghana.

CAF dashed Nigeria hopes of participating in the 2025 U-17 AFCON after allotting two of the extra four slots to Gambia who finished third in WAFU Zone A, as well as Tunisia.

Other two slots will be filled by the two top teams from the UNIFFAC region qualifiers which will be hosted by Cameroon from February 16 to 28. Five countries, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo, will participate in the championship. Shockingly, despite the additional slots, the Golden Eaglets –Africa’s most successful U-17 team — will not participate in the tournament due to CAF’s arbitrary decision.

This controversial decision raises serious concerns about fairness, transparency, and regional balance in CAF’s qualification process. FIFA and CAF Committee member, Amaju Pinnick, should step into this issue as this is a big SLAP on Nigeria. I also acknowledge that the country’s U-17 team should have picked an outright ticket but in this case, the decision of the continental body is suspicious.

As followers of the game agonize over the Eaglets, the draw for the U-20 AFCON was made with Nigeria billed to play in Group B against South Africa, Egypt and Morocco. This is a tough group which has sent fears to the spines of many. How the Flying Eagles will navigate their way to clinch the World Cup ticket is a huge task.

Overall, there is need for the Shehu Dikko-led National Sport Commission to work out a deliberate plan to reverse the downward slide in the country’s age football. There should be a good template for the youths as the leaders of tomorrow. The inter-school, inter-state and secondary school football events should be revived.

The talents are in various parts of the country but how to identify, nurture and expose them is a challenge. The CAF qualification process is a big setback but to be the best in the world, such team should not dread any foe within or outside the continent.