NIGERIA TO BE FULLY INTEGRATED INTO FIFA CONNECT NEXT MONTH

ABUJA, Nigeria – The Nigeria Football Federation will be fully integrated into the FIFA Connect system by the end of this year, the country’s football –governing body has announced.

FIFA Connect is the centralized portal for the registration of football players and other stakeholders. Once fully integrated, it means that registration of all players and other stakeholders in Nigerian Football will be done by the NFF.

“Players from the age of 10, in schools, football academies, amateur and professionals are all eligible to be registered by the NFF. The platform will accommodate football referees and coaches as well and thus, we will have a data base of these football officials,” Nasiru Jibril, NFF’s Club Licensing Officer, told thenff.com.

Jibril, who is a former Nigerian international, explained further: “Registration is not limited to players in established Clubs only, as players in schools (Primary and Secondary Schools) can all be registered by their schools and grassroots Clubs on the FIFA Connect.

“State Football Associations and Regional bodies will be fully involved in the registration exercise since all Clubs and other Football Stakeholders are domiciled in their areas of operation. This way, we can keep track of players and officials’ history and progression, no matter where they go, thus eliminating age falsification.”

Last year, NFF 2nd Vice President/LMC chairman Shehu Dikko, LMC COO Salihu Abubakar, Jibril and NFF’s Legal Officer Okey Obi attended a workshop at the Home of FIFA in Zurich, moderated by the Head of the FIFA TMS Compliance. Nigeria has also paid for the DTMS tool that works, facilitates and simplifies the process of players’ registration and record –keeping. A seminar on the Domestic Transfer Matching System has taken place in Abuja involving all the relevant officials and moderated by FIFA officers.