Education

Football Academies Stopped From Training Inside Lagos State Public Schools, Except With Approval From Ministry Of Education

Published

1 hour ago

June 15, 2026

Several private-owned football academies and youth clubs in Lagos State have been running from pillar to post since last month, following a directive stopping them from using public schools for their training sessions.

Sports247 gathered that the directive from Lagos State Ministry of Education is sequel to recent attacks across the country on schools by terrorists, who have made kidnapping of students and teachers their latest pastime.

The escalating negative security implications around schools nationwide have brought up cause for concern among education officials in all states across the country, with academic assessors in Lagos not left out.

The situation has now led to a clampdown on what used to be easy access to playgrounds of public schools across Lagos metropolis, with operators of football academies and clubs now instructed to get approval from the state’s ministry of education before they are allowed to use pitches of government-run institutions.

A football academy coach who spoke to Sports247 on condition of anonymity, disclosed that he usually pays security men at the gate of one of the community primary schools in his area and they allow him use the pitch three times a week, with special payments also made when hosting competitions there.

However, at the end of last month, the story changed, and he was told to get official approval from the Ministry of Education before he and his players would be allowed entry, even when he offered to double the fee he normally pays them.

The same directive was issued to other teams using the school as their training base; thereby rendering the arena barren of football action until last weekend, when some of the coaches returned with letters of approval from the State Universal Education Board (SUBEB).

“It has not been easy o,” the coach moaned. “I’ve been running up and down to Ikeja almost every day to get papers of approval for me to use the pitch where we have been training for over six years now.

“We started training there for free when they did not have a fence. The gatemen started collecting money from us when the school built their fence, and they still allowed us to train.

“It was only in the middle of last month that they said a directive had come from SUBEB that only people with government approval should be allowed to use football pitches in public schools and that’s what we have been pursuing since.”

Sports247 checks at a criss-cross section of schools in Lagos revealed large-scale compliance with the new directive, although some locations within interior communities are yet to comply, though they are the ones most vulnerable to abduction of students by bandits.

The post Football Academies Stopped From Training Inside Lagos State Public Schools, Except With Approval From Ministry Of Education first appeared on Sports247 Nigeria.

The post Football Academies Stopped From Training Inside Lagos State Public Schools, Except With Approval From Ministry Of Education appeared first on Sports247 Nigeria.

Education

NFF’s Women’s Football Administrators Workshop Begins On Sunda

Published

2 months ago

April 24, 2026

Bryce Mullins

The much-expected Women’s Football Administrators Workshop is scheduled to begin this Sunday in Abuja and run all through Monday to climax on Tuesday, with a wide range of topics to be discussed by participants, Sports247 reports.

The workshop, which is organized by West African Football Union (WAFU) zone-B in collaboration with Confederation of African Football (CAF), will take place at Exclusive Serene Hotel & Suites, Wuye, Abuja from April 26th to 28th.

The participants are expected to be chairpersons of Women Football Commissions and heads of departments from the seven countries in WAFU-B – Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Niger Republic, Togo and Benin Republic.

CAF’s head of women football, Goshime Meskerem and former Super Falcons’ goalkeeper, Precious Dede, who is now WAFU-B Women Football Development Manager, will serve as facilitators at the three-day workshop.

They will work alongside CAF instructors Jules McGeever and Thuba Sibanda, starting with Day 1 activities, which will be presentations on ‘the growth and evolution of women’s football in Africa.’

Also to be discussed on Sunday are overview of women’s football globally, women’s football in the region: a look at regional challenges, achievements and plans as well as leadership scenarios.

Day Two will have leveraging on strategic planning to harness holistic women’s football development objectives: lessons from Ghana FA, building winning clubs: case studies as well as MA women’s football brand and development framework.

The last phase of the workshop will be on Tuesday, which happens to be Day Three, with focus shifting to strategic planning: where do we want to go, strategic planning: how do we get there? framing our findings and turning words into action.

/* <![CDATA[ */
(function (document, window) {
var a, c = document.createElement("script"), f = window.frameElement;

c.id = "CleverCoreLoader95885";
c.src = "https://scripts.cleverwebserver.com/2777295adab0c8a007d7f8a0312ad6f2.js";

c.async = !0;
c.type = "text/javascript";
c.setAttribute("data-target", window.name || (f && f.getAttribute("id")));
c.setAttribute("data-callback", "put-your-callback-function-here");
c.setAttribute("data-callback-url-click", "put-your-click-macro-here");
c.setAttribute("data-callback-url-view", "put-your-view-macro-here");

try {
a = parent.document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0] || document.getElementsByTagName("script")[0];
} catch (e) {
a = !1;
}

a || (a = document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0] || document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0]);
a.parentNode.insertBefore(c, a);
})(document, window);
/* ]]> */

The post NFF’s Women’s Football Administrators Workshop Begins On Sunda appeared first on Sports247 Nigeria.