After a successful outing at the 2023 World Winners Cup in Alghero, Italy, the President of the African Beach Soccer Union (ABSU), Mahmud Hadejia who led the Kebbi Beach Soccer Club (KBSC) delegation as the Chairman of the Kebbi State Beach Soccer Association (KBSA) has spoken on the experience gathered by the current Nigerian champions.
The Birnin-Kebbi-based team reached the Round of 16 at the tournament organised by Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) in partnership with the Italian Football Federation.
The qualification to the Round of 16 was the best performance by the team making their second appearance at the tournament which Hadejia is optimistic will improve the team’s global ranking.
“We thank God for this successful journey. Going to Italy for over a week and just returning,” Hadejia told journalists after the team returned to Nigeria from Italy.
“It was a good experience for the team and good exposure for everyone particularly the players. We rarely have this kind of opportunity for players to travel out and play this kind of global championship. This was a World Cup for Beach soccer clubs. We are lucky to have a Nigerian team, Kebbi Beach Soccer Club (BSC) who are champions and also the number one ranked team in Africa to represent not just Nigeria but the whole of African continent. I think it was a good experience.”
After the arrival of Kebbi Fishers, the team paid a courtesy and appreciation visit to Italian Ambassador Stefano De Leo and Chief Protocol Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ibrahim Zanna.
“The team also managed to have good performances and be in the best 16 teams in the World which is the Round of 16.” He continued.
“I think it was good for the team and we visited the Embassy of Italy in Abuja to meet with His Excellency the Italian Ambassador. We just had a good engagement with him now and he was also excited for the team’s participation. The visas came late and he played a key role in ensuring that the team get the visas to travel because other African teams were not able to travel for this competition. It was quite interesting and we really thank the Italian Embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Nigeria for playing a key role in ensuring that the team travel.
“Going forward, I think we would have better preparation in terms of getting the visa early and traveling out for the team to be prepared and also acclamatise to the weather. Congratulations to the team. This is a very successful trip and we thank Nigerians for all the support including the media while the team were out there in Italy.”
Hadejia thanked the team sponsors, Wacot Rice and the Kebbi State Government’s moral support for making the trip a reality.
He added: “For the team, the next thing is to have a good rest. We have the local league in Kebbi starting before the year runs out. Also early next year we will have another edition of the Nigeria Beach Soccer League. I think it would be interesting because looking at the players that have traveled to Italy, everyone would be looking at them to see what they have learnt and to also teach others a thing or two.”
“I think Beach soccer is on the move in Nigeria now and with this participation in Italy, it will give other teams and players a lot of hope that they can also have this opportunity to travel out and also represent their clubs, country, and also the whole of the African continent.
“I must give kudos to Kebbi and also the sponsors, Wacot Rice for making it possible. They played a major role in the team’s travel and also the Kebbi State Government for providing that moral support for the team to travel. We hope they will have a good reception when they get to Kebbi.
“From this competition, Kebbi is now in the best 16 teams in the World and you can imagine how big this is for the Country and a State like Kebbi. We will wait to see the new rankings after the tournament but it should improve tremendously because Kebbi was able to achieve much more in terms of the ranking of the competition compared to the first time they were in Turkey. We expect a big leap but most importantly for the team is the exposure and the experience because you can’t buy experience.” He concluded.
Source: NBSL Media
13/10/2023
