How Football Can Inspire Positive Change among Youths – through IFL Network Programs

Every adult, from 18 to about 55 year of age, deserve to work and to make a living. But right now, over 80 million able bodied persons in Nigeria are without job. About 10 million of them training to become professional footballers couldn’t find any club to employ their services as well.

It’s very pathetic to see most of these young adults going on for several days without food. Many of them were forced by poverty to abandon their God given talent, to become fraudsters, gangsters, Militants or terrorists… when young adults cannot find legitimate job to do, they get into crime – and who can blame them for that?

Their parents may be unemployed too and their families too poor, so they have to find a way to fend for themselves.

Peer group pressure is another factor that has taken its own toll. Fellow youngsters, who had gone into cyber crime popularly known as yahoo –yahoo, are now living in exaggerated luxuries; which seem to suggest crime as the way to go.

It’s difficult to find role models now-a-days; not even among the few footballers who made it abroad. With a footballer’s career rarely lasting more than 15 years span, it’s always regrettable to find emerging football stars going into the same vices: gambling, alcohol, drugs, illicit sex and not able to cultivate a positive image worthy of emulation.

This may be one of the reasons we find ex-footballers in Nigeria, return back to abject poverty after years of reckless living. You can’t really blame them. There was nobody to guide and direct them on what to do; nobody to help them manage their career.

You may not understand how these things happen, but many of these footballers may have come from difficult backgrounds or quit the education system early, leaving them with few of the life skills required to deal with the unbelievable amount of money thrown at them at a very youthful age.

These are some of the challenges we are determined to fix through ‘Inspire Football Life’ (IFL Network) programs. For instance, each year we gather over 200 young footballers in a trial camp; where they are trained, inspired and given counsel ahead of their anticipated footballer career. It’s a kind of mentorship program for footballers. We also invite scouts as well as agents and turn the trial camp into another opportunity to discover great players.

IFL Network isn’t all about footballers alone. We are reaching out to more fans and other interest groups as well, delivering to them tools and products that enrich them greatly; exposing to them how they can make money and always take their passion to the bank.

You can get regular inspirations on our blog posts and newsletters. We publish “how to” and “step by step guide” that brings solution to you at your finger tips.

We have strong presence in the social media networks. We are enlarging our community base on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, WhatsApp…. The reason we created these communities is to reach more people, so we can inspire them with football possibilities and let them have access to opportunities. You can connect with real people who can help you live your dreams. Join us now on: