Nigeria has 6.5 million unregistered footballers – FIFA

Hmmm..My country get footballers sha....

There are at least 6,653,710 football players in Nigeria, out of which only 58,710 are registered, leaving 6,595,000 existing as unregistered players. This is according to information about Nigeria on FIFA’s website.

The world football governing body also has record of 52 football clubs in Nigeria as well as 33, 122 officials.

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These figures which were generated from FIFA’s previous effort at establishing a database of all football stakeholders across the world are likely to be reviewed soon, with the launch of the FIFA Connect, an initiative aimed at integrating football data from bottom to top.

It was released last week with Singapore as the first pilot association, while Finland and Hong Kong are expected to follow later in the year.

According to a statement by FIFA, the step towards implementing the global football stakeholder registration programme will help gather data from “every corner of the footballing world.”

Connect was said to be the product of a mandate given in December 2011 by the FIFA Executive Committee to set up a worldwide football registration programme to help organise stakeholders around the world.

“The goals of the programme include the systematic registration of players and other stakeholders, the establishment of information systems standards for the exchange of data across national borders, and the promotion of a more fact-based management of football development activities following a global standard. Connect will also serve to further ensure the protection of minors and the execution of FIFA’s solidarity mechanisms,” the statement read in parts.

FIFA Director of Member Associations and Development, Thierry Regenass, was quoted as saying, “FIFA Connect will allow all of our members to have full visibility on their football landscape, which will have a tremendous impact on their governance, but will also bring benefits on the footballing side – knowing your players better, where they are and who they are, is vital for football development.

“On a global scale, our objective is to use current technologies to promote and facilitate the systematic exchange of information and knowledge between our 209 member associations following a global standard by 2018.”

The figures recorded for Nigeria appears inaccurate as the number of clubs is by far less than what is available in the country. Hundreds of registered clubs feature annually in the country’s Federation Cup which is open to all registered teams in Nigeria.