Soccer
Four Nigerian clubs will participate in the 2025 Viareggio Cup in Italy. It is a tournament for U18s that has become a big scouting platform for young players over the last 75 years, Soccernet.ng reports.
Last year, Ikenne-based Beyond Limits Football Academy won the tournament by defeating Centre National Football of Brazzaville, Congo, in a first all-African final.
All four semi-finalists last year were African teams, including two other Nigerian club sides Ojodu City FC and Mavlon FC.
Which Nigerian clubs will play at the Viareggio Cup in 2025?
Ojodu City and Mavlon will return to the tournament that will take place from March 17 to 31 this year. Last year’s winners Beyond Limits have opted out due to what is their inability to raise a strong team for this year’s tournament.
Two newcomers Ijele FC and Magic Stars will participate at the Viareggio Cup.
It is the highest representation of countries from a single country outside of the host country, Italy.
24 teams drawn in six groups of four teams each will play in the tournament that is held on grounds across towns and cities in the Tuscany region, with the final culminating at the Stadio dei Pini in Viareggio on Monday, March 31, the day after Carnival.
Why has the Viareggio Cup become popular for Nigerian teams?
Many Nigerian businessmen are becoming alert to the potential of the Viareggio Cup serving as a recruitment platform for their players.
The fact that several players from last year are now playing in European teams lends credence to this.
Last year’s top goal scorer, Hafiz Umar Ibrahim of Ojodu City, now plays for Stade Reims in the French Ligue 1.
Beyond Limits striker Kparobo Arierhi has moved to Lillestrom in Norway while his teammate Adeshina Ayodele has moved to Lille in France.
Mavlon FC’s Charles Agada, who was second highest scorer last year, has also moved to NK Istra 1961 of Croatia.
How much does it cost to play at the Viareggio Cup?
Due to its impressive history, many young players have emerged from the Viareggio Cup to attain professional stardom.
This has made it one of the biggest platforms in football to showcase top-quality players by academies and clubs worldwide and, thereby an expensive venture to undertake.
Registration for the Viareggio Cup is about 25,000 euros per team.
Then you must factor in the cost of taking 18 players and team managers from Nigeria to Italy, their accommodation and feeding as well as local transport costs over two weeks – hiring buses and train tickets.
This can push the estimated participation costs of Nigerian teams to between 120 and 170 million naira.
Is the Viareggio Cup all it promises?
Nigerian club owners are banking on the possibility that one or two of their players will impress scouts during the tournament and they can recoup their investment in future sales.
However, if the team does not compete well, their investment in players will likely not be seen because scouts are usually keen on teams reaching the tournament’s deeper end.
Hence, a group stage exit will most likely mean that many scouts will not see a team and will lose potential scouting opportunities and eventual revenue.
This is why clubs go all out in recruiting the best talents in the country for their teams so they stand a good chance of making it far in the competition.
An opportunity to replicate in Nigeria
The high cost of participation in youth tournaments in Europe leaves an opportunity for Nigerian football business owners to organize their own tournaments in Nigeria and bring in scouts to see the players at a fraction of the cost.
The Nigerian football space also needs to be better organized from the fragmented tournaments that are not properly documented or have no datasets to show the world.
Tournaments like Viareggio will continue to be popular because they are close to the European market and also have scouting data available to share with the world.
GROUP A
Group 1: Fiorentina (Italy), Red Star (Serbia), Imolese (Italy), Mavlon (Nigeria)
Group 2: Genoa (Italy), Internacional (Brazil), Perugia (Italy), Ijele (Nigeria)
Group 3: Sassuolo (Italy), Apia Leichhardt (Australia), Casarano (Italy), Magic Stars (Nigeria)
GROUP B
Group 4: Torino (Italy), Asteras Aktor (Greece), Pontedera (Italy), Ojodu City (Nigeria)
Group 5: Sampdoria (Italy), Jóvenes Promesas (Spain), Westchester United (United States), Berekum Chelsea (Ghana)
Group 6: Serie D Representatives (Italy), Rukh (Ukraine), Uyss New York (United States), Olympique Thiessois (Senegal)
Read MoreLolade Adewuyi