Scores of footballers from different grassroots teams in Benin City recently gathered at the Emotan College field in the Edo State capital to impress a foreign-based players’ scout with their football skills.

The long-term goal being to be selected and recommended to a foreign club, the players came with enthusiasm and hope.

The two-day trial session was organised and supervised by Germany-based football scout Francis Ogette.

The burly former defender had recently scooped good grassroots players from other cities in Nigeria before arriving in Benin City. The players are expected to be drafted to Sapphire Football Academy based in Lagos, where they would get the chance of playing in front of European clubs representatives later this month.

Ogette read out to players in Benin City the rules of engagement before the teams squared up against each other in a series of trial matches, each lasting for about an hour.

“The ref would not blow for simple fouls. I want the game to be hard and let me see your physical, as well as mental toughness to survive the game. No easy offside traps, I want to see goals. If the match is boring, I will ask the ref to stop it immediately. So, give all you've got today,” Ogette told each team as they lined up in the centre circle to play.

The result of his rules was a feisty number of games that recorded some brutal moments. A particular clash led to a cut eyelid of one player. Another player suffered a bruised and bleeding nose when he collided with a Champion FC player.

Despite the gruelling contests, the individual qualities of the players were apparent. The teams generally possessed players with high level technical quality. Ogette was satisfied. “I was really impressed with what I saw there. The quality and attitude of players in Benin is good,” he said to this reporter, who officiated the trial games.

Ogette stood for hours throughout the trial games. He admitted it could be tiring but said: “I don’t have any other job than scouting, so I’m always prepared for rough scenarios that go with the job.”

He stood at the opposite end of the pitch, away from where the fans and coaches of the grassroots sides were. It was apparently to give him a view of which players to select without any undue pressure or influence of a third party.

After the second day of the exercise Ogette spoke with the players he selected and asked them to come to Lagos for some more trial matches. He has years of experience marketing players. Some of the names he turned from grassroots hopefuls into top euro-earning players through the brokering of contracts are Peter Susan and Henry Uche, who both signed for high-paying Albanian side Kukesi.

News Express gathered that a number of the players who were selected are getting ready for a mini competition where they will face some other football academies in the country. This time, a top foreign football agent from an unnamed rich club in Europe would be on hand to carry out on-hand assessment of the lads his club could be signing.

One official of a grassroots club in Benin City whose players where picked to be part of the final Sapphire team was excited. “The players are in the final stages of getting a club. We are praying for the best outcome for them,” he said.

Indeed, it would be a relieving outcome for players who have struggled with poverty for much of their lives. After the said trial games in Benin City, one could see very exhausted players asking desperately for money for transport fares, feeding money and food from friends, coaches and anyone they were close to.

Ogette is confident that the financial situation for the young and truly talented players could change for the better under his assistance. “I found a young grassroots player some years ago who didn’t even have football boots. I helped him negotiate a foreign deal and today he’s playing in a top Israeli club side and earning good money,” he said.

•Photo shows Ogette.

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