Bayelsa is set to have more products of the Governor’s Football Tournament ply their trade with Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs and even outside the shores of the country.
This followed a disclosure by the lead scout of an international scouting programme which got underway in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital on Wednesday, December 10, 2025.
The international scouting programme for youths in the state, is put together by the organizers of the Bayelsa State Governor’s Football Tournament, tagged the Prosperity Cup, in collaboration with the State Ministry of Sports Development as well as the Football Association.
Speaking to journalists after day one of the programme, the lead scout of the exercise, Mr Daniel Ayeni, from the UK, said he has already identified a number of talents from the exercise.
Noting that the essence of the programme was to identify and expose raw talents, Ayeni said the exercise will provide a platform for more Bayelsans to ply their trade in Europe in the immediate foreseeable future.
The obviously elated scout expressed confidence in the talents he has spotted so far from the programme, which brought together four grassroots clubs in the state namely, FC Silina, Citiboi FC, Bayelsa United Feeders and Bayelsa Starlets.
Also throwing more light on the scouting programme, the Secretary of the Bayelsa State Football Association, Mr. Diseye Nwankwe, said the football body, is working hands in gloves with organisers of the Prosperity Cup to see that home grown talents are nurtured and exported to Europe for greener pastures.
Nwankwe, who identified grassroots football as the bedrock of any nation’s football development, said apart from nurturing talents, that they are working in synergy with the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF to see that Bayelsa grassroots football coaches are properly certified with the appropriate certificates to enable them compete favourably with their peers elsewhere.
In his contribution, Coach Kenneth Opukeme of Advanced Dreams FA, who is also participating in the exercise, noted that the scouting programme along side the Prosperity Cup, have over the years, benefitted many grassroots players in the State, adding that a handful of the players in Bayelsa would not have had the opportunity to earn a living through football if not for the painstaking efforts of the Director General of the tournament, Mr Ono Akpe and his indefatigable team.
He expressed confidence that scouts are going to identify good talents from the ongoing programme, stressing that he has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the exercise especially in the discovery of Benjamin Precious who now plays with TSG Hoffenheim in Germany.
Opukeme, popularly known as Coach Bobo, reeled out the names of some players who are products of the Prosperity Cup and the scouting programmes to include Joel Izibevie-Nestor, Robert Mizo, Alex Oyowah and Handsome Surveyor.
The grassroots coach, who also mentioned Endurance Ebedebiri, Ayiba Edwin and John Bassey, among others, described the afore-mentioned players as eloquent testimony of the Prosperity Cup, which is unarguably the biggest grassroots football tournament in the country.
Earlier, in the first match of the day, FC Silina defeated Citiboi FC by a lone goal while Bayelsa United Feeders, were beaten four goals to one by Bayelsa Starlets in the second match.
Day two of the exercise will see FC Silina up against Bayelsa United Feeders at 8.00a.m. while Citiboi FC will battle Bayelsa Starlets by 10.00a.m. at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa.
