Nigeria Content Online

Nigeria’s national Under 13 team has emerged champions at the 2010 International Youth Championship in London, England.

It was the first
international engagement for the newly formed national team and they
defeated Portugal’s Sporting Club 2-0 in the finals to emerge winners
of the tournament.

The tournament –
organised by the English Premier League – took place between August 19
and 23 and had a total of 16 youth teams in attendance. They included
English sides Chelsea, Fulham, Portsmouth, Hull City, Aston Villa,
Manchester City, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Sunderland,

Birmingham City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic, as well as Spain’s Athletic Bilbao, and Dutch side Feyenoord.

Ruthless Nigerians

The Nigerian side
coached by Bala Nkiyu, were placed in Group B in the five-day
tournament and the youngsters who were identified during the recently
held National U-13 Championship, hammered Liverpool 4-0 in their
opening game before putting six past Fulham in a 6-0 win.

They then wrapped
up their group stage fixtures with a 4-1 thumping of Birmingham to book
a place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals they defeated Chelsea
3-0 and proceeded to the final in which they overcame Sporting 2-O.

The victory nothing less than the Nigerian side deserved for their
overwhelming dominance over the course of the tournament which saw them
scoring 21 goals and conceding just one goal. As a result of their
success at this year’s tournament, the Nigerian side have been invited
to take part in next year’s tournament but not only in the U-13
category but the U-15 category as well.