The FC Bayern Youth Cup is an international tournament series open to 15- and 16-year-old boys from different countries across the globe.
The FC Bayern Youth Cup Nigeria 2022 national finals selection tournament will be hosted between April 29 and May 1 at the new Awka City Stadium, Anambra State. Selected finalists from this year’s invitational tournament will travel to Munich, Germany to represent Nigeria at the world finals where they will meet other finalists from around the world in October.
The FC Bayern Youth Cup started in 2012 in about 7 countries. By 2018, Nigeria was included for the first time amongst one of the destinations for the event. Bayern Munich legends: Giovane Elber and Klaus Augenthaler have been in Nigeria to select the best players at previous editions with some of the selected players like Daniel Francis, Nwachukwu Christian and Stanley Iheanacho going ahead to represent the Nigeria national U17 team at the U17 FIFA World Cup and WAFU championships. The event’s side attraction includes a football watch party, Bundesliga display in Nigeria, photoshoots, as well as interactive sessions with legendary footballers from Bayern Munich. The 2022 edition is presented in Nigeria by VOE Foundation, Aspire Foundation and Anambra State Sports Development Commission
FC Bayern legend, Hans Pflügler had this to say about his upcoming visit to Nigeria, “After a couple of difficult years, we can’t wait to get the ball rolling again in Nigeria. Our tournament in this country has always been a source of impressive young talents, we are looking forward to giving them once again the platform to show their skill. Our expectation is to select a competitive group of players that, on top of having a unique experience in Munich, will also bring a high-level performance to the FC Bayern Youth Cup World Finals” .
According to the Victor Obinna Edeh, FC Bayern Youth Cup Nigeria tournament Director, “The last edition hosted in Nigeria was held in 2020 and with the outbreak of the COVID 19 pandemic and global travel restrictions, the world finals could not hold. We had a training camp last year with remote support from Germany and a friendly game against the national U17 team to help support the development of players we have selected since 2018. We are very delighted to be hosting the national finals this year in Anambra and look forward to seeing exciting new talent who can follow in the footsteps of some of our previous participants who currently play football in Europe.”
Chairman of the Anambra State Sports Development Commission, Chief Tony Oli, said that hosting the Nigeria National finals in Anambra State is in line with the State Government’s vision to position Anambra as the football headquarters of Nigeria. This buttresses the ongoing effort to create an Anambra brand of football known for quality, competitiveness, and entertainment. It will be remembered that the State under her Interim FA Chairman, Dr Chukwuemeka Okeke, launched My Anambra Football which has seen many coaching clinics and tournaments already hosted with many football related infrastructural development either ongoing or completed.
Onwubuche Tobechi, Director of Program Design and Development at Aspire Foundation said that hosting the FC Bayern Youth Cup Nigeria 2022 is another way Aspire Foundation is fostering her mission of giving young Nigerians the opportunity of finding themselves through various platforms, this time on a global scale. Just like various social and economic projects driven by Aspire Foundation including academic scholarships, talent hunt programs such as Aspire FC Egwu Ogene contest and My Anambra Football Super 8 Tournament, the FC Bayern Youth Cup Nigeria is expected to have a long-lasting impact and benefit of turning around football narrative in Anambra State and Nigeria.