Sodje raises alarm, address grassroots sports now or lose Nigeria’s sporting future

By Maxwell Kumoye and Raymond Nwaduba 

 

 

A former Nigeria international, Sam Sodje has delivered a thunderbolt message to Nigerian sports, invest in the grassroots or watch the nation’s sporting glory crumble even further.

The Technical Director of the Delta State FA and former Super Eagles defender didn’t mince words as he called for urgent, massive investment at the base of Nigerian sports. 

For Sodje, who runs his own foundation to groom young talents, the message is simple: put money, structure and commitment where the future is, at the grassroots.

“There’s an urgent need to build formidable grassroots structures. Cosmetic approaches won’t work,” Sodje declared with trademark bluntness. 

“Genuine investment and proper structures are the only way forward.”

While acknowledging attempts by the National Sports Commission to revamp the system, Sodje insisted that Nigeria is miles away from where it should be. 

He argued that no nation can dominate globally without a well-built foundation and that is something Nigeria once had but gradually lost through poor planning, weak implementation, and a dangerous appetite for “ready-made” athletes.“

Nigeria is guilty of neglecting the grassroots and going for finished products,” he said. 

“The proper thing is to catch them young. Give them the platform. Give them hope.”Sodje warned that the current decline across multiple sports stems directly from this foundation gap, a gap that continues to drive young talents abroad and weaken the pipeline of future champions.

But his message isn’t just criticism; it is a challenge.“If we do things properly, Nigeria can regain its pride of place globally,” he said firmly. “We have the talent. Now we need the structure.”

With the country’s sports fortunes fading and global competition growing fiercer, Sodje’s rallying cry hits harder than ever, fix the grassroots, or surrender the future.