Kaduna-based Siyom FC selects 40 players from 3 states for grooming, foreign exposure — coach

No fewer than 40 players discovered from three cities of Kano, Kaduna and Abuja, would be groomed and positioned for selection by top coaches from Europe, expected to visit Kaduna in November.

Head Coach of Siyom FC, Mohammed Ait-Hida, disclosed this on Thursday, in Kaduna, while addressing Sports writers.

He said, “We have picked talented players from three cities, Kaduna, Kano and Abuja and in November, fellow partners will come from Europe to select the best, chosen out of the 40 players to play in different positions,”

According to him, the ages of players selected are between 16 to 19 years.

“We are selecting these young players because older players are difficult to progress in career,” Ait-Hida, a French man said, while explaining that they targeted Nigeria players because the country could boast of several young potential world stars.

“I chose players here because Nigeria is a big country with lots of talented players. Right now, Nigeria is not topping Africa because many young players are not being discovered,” he said.

Coach Ait-Hida, who has been in Kaduna for about one month, said he was impressed so far with the quality of the youngsters discovered.

Also speaking, Chairman of Siyom FC, Mr. Salisu Isah, explained that the club was duly registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and affiliated to the Football Association (FA).

“Siyom FC has been in existence for 10 years. We started in Kano, but moved to Kaduna because Kaduna is the centre of North,” he said.

Isah further said that he had been resident in Kaduna for six years and that the players so far spotted by the club, would all be moved to Kaduna for further grooming.

“Those selected from Abuja and Kano will join others spotted in Kaduna. We are planning to register in the Nigerian league, but for now we are building on our foundation.

“What we did before now is that when we get a good player, we sponsor them abroad to get a good life because our aim in Siyom FC is to pick talented players from the streets and make them stars.”

He said that he did a careful selection to bring Ait-Hida, the Frenchman to Nigeria,
On financing of the team, he agreed that it is funds consuming, saying, “we have done 95 per cent of the project. Really, it is capital intensive. The five per cent we are throwing out to whoever wants to come in to fill in the remaining five per cent in partnership,” he said.

The Siyom FC Chairman gave the assurance that the players were not going to be trafficked, but would be given the opportunity to launch their careers on the global stage in Europe.