Kunle Adeyemi
Features Writer
8 April 20265 min
The alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. in Ibadan. For eighty boys, that is not an inconvenience — it is a ritual.
The pitch is not much to look at: a grass rectangle on the edge of Bodija, the goalposts wrapped in electrical tape, the touchlines marked with powdered chalk that disappears if it rains.
Coach Adeniyi has been here since 2018. He has never charged a registration fee. He has never turned a boy away for not having boots.
The drill ends at 6:15. The boys pack their bags, eat rice from a communal pot, and walk to school. They will be back tomorrow at 4:30.
"Every winger Nigeria has exported in the last ten years started somewhere like this. We just don't talk about it."
— Coach Adeniyi