By Daily Sports on December 22, 2016

Call it the factory for making future stars and you won’t be wrong in describing Benin City-based grassroots club BJ Foundation. And in the end-of-year match that the club is to play, the proof of this description is going to be laid bare.

At Arinze primary school playing field in the centre of Benin on Saturday Xmas eve morning from 7am, the top ex-players of this club who have gone on to become international stars would file out against the current crop of the team in what is always expected to be a gigantic clash.

Some ex-BJ players who usually grace the game include  Super Eagles star Elderson Echiejile,  former Golden Eaglets mercurial and burly attacker, Isaac Success (of Watford), former Almeira of Spain pacy attacker Stanley Okoro, Portuguese giants Porto midfielder Mikel Agu, Solomon Okpako (formally of Mamelodi Sundowns, South Africa) and Efosa Ona Amoroso (Al Sahel SC, Kuwait).

Other ex-BJ stars who are lighting up the Nigerian league would equally be involved. They include current Nigerian league kings Rangers of Enugu attacker, Osas Okoro, and defender Festus Umana Wikki Tourists of Bauchi.

BJ Foundation was founded by Douglas Idahosa and he also coaches the team on a daily basis. He has received lots of commendations for raising the stars from the grassroots and showing them the light to success in the ultra-competitive world of football through his thorough guidance.

This year has been a big success for Mr. Idahosa and there’s a lot to celebrate. Immediately after his club finished their Edo FA cup campaign in March which they finished in the semi finals, he traveled to Europe, a trip that was facilitated by some of his ex-players. It was a combined pleasure and business trip as he used his about three-week stay to unwind and also meet with some top football club officials in Spain.

Idahosa sat in Spanish LA Liga side Granada's Directors Box a as a special guest in one of the team’s Primera Liga match and also got acquainted with other big agents and scouts in Spain, some of whom later visited Benin City in June for some talent hunt at BJ, bringing with them some beautiful kits for the club.

Idahosa has also seen his protege Isaac Success move from Granada to the most-followed league in the world, when he joined Watford in the English premier league. With the huge training compensation fee coming BJ’s way from that transfer, there’s big motivation for the club to go on and achieve bigger things.

Also in the year, last year’s captain of the club Ekigho Erimuya featured for Nigeria in the soccer event of this year’s Olympics that held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Erimuya turned out for then Turkey division 1 team Kayseri, is said to be set for a move to Spanish Secunda division team Alaves in January.

Erhu Obanor, who captained the National Dream Team at some point last year is a former player of BJ who signed for Greuther Furth in the German league. He’s expected to be around for the ‘End of Year match’ on Saturday morning. He’s a very popular figure amongst the present crop of BJ players as he trained with them a lot this year before moving to Germany and he always makes some kit donations to the club.

As they say, let the ball roll on Saturday morning.

Source Daily Sports

Posted December 22, 2016

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