Star Builders Academy 1-2 Collins Edwin SC

Efe and Orji Chisom on the score sheet for the gladiators!

Based in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state, Stars Builders Academy has started off on the right footing, providing youngsters under the age of twenty with real footballing nursery that had been missing for some times in the country.

The first set of players at the Stars Builders Academy began real football lessons; theory and practical, in early February 2021 under the irrepressible guidance of Gabriel Ezema, a LaLiga trained youthful coach who has an enviable bag of experience with him.

www.aclsports.com visited the team’s base on Thursday and spoke with one of the Directors Kayode Temenu as well as head coach Ezema; two very optimistic personalities.

“We set Stars Builders academy up to harness the young talents we have in the country,” began Temenu to www.aclsports.com

“Knowing fully well that we have over 60-70% of Nigerian population at the youth level. So, we have a lot of young talents here and we feel that is an area where we can contribute to the development of the country in our own way.

“It’s still very new but we have big plans for the academy,” added Temenu.

Although still very nascent, Temenu hinted at what the aim of the academy is and as well expressed his satisfaction at the amount of work done so far by the academy’s technical hands.

“We really want to model the academy after some other similar academies all over the world. We’ve started on a good note and we’ve selected some of the best coaches you can find around in the country.

“I’m really impressed by what we are doing on the pitch already and we believe we are building world beaters as far as the academy is concerned,” Temenu said.

Coach Ezema; a former assistant coach at Enugu Rangers rates the Directorial set-up of the Academy very highly and believes that the project has a high chance of being a success in the football industry.

“The success potential (of Stars Builders Academy) is very high. I will say the success potential is over 90% because we are working with a management that understands the management of football at a setting like this,” began Ezema.

“They’ve been doing excellently well in terms of providing all necessary resources for us to succeed. They’ve also been supporting us monetarily and otherwise. All we just have to do is to develop top quality player and do it consistently.”

For a coach not foreign to working with young players, Ezema also enumerated some of the key qualities they look out for in their admitted players and what they intend to do with it.

“We get to look out for young players with a lot of qualities with a lot of talents and we focus a lot on speed because speed is a very important factor in modern football.

“We focus on intelligence in terms of decision-making, first touch, final balls as well focus on other minor details like off-the-ball movements, support runs and defensive situations.

“The next level is to develop the players, make them understand the game, develop the technical and tactical aspect also and of course the social and psychological aspects.

“Players need to have better orientation and right attitudes. We have to instil discipline and let them know football is a process but the biggest goal is that Nigeria as a country to continue to produce the best quality of talents anywhere you can find anywhere in the world,” said Ezema.

Stars Builders, who are cup debutants, pipped Motivator FC 3-1 in the thrilling final played in front of a sizable number of fans at the Gateway International Stadium in Sagamu on Tuesday.

Ayomide Ayodele and Segun Otunsanya gave underdogs Stars Builders a first-half two-goal lead. Shortly after the break, Motivator FC pulled one back through a penalty, although they missed their first spot-kick before a late goal from Otunsanya sealed the win for the Builders to emerge champions.

It is the club’s maiden appearance in any competitive tournament since it was founded in 2021 and coach Gabriel Ezema was very impressed with the efforts of the boys after the game.

“I feel very excited. It is a good achievement for us being that we are debutants and good encouragement for the boys as well.” said the former Enugu Rangers assistant.

Despite having a man sent off early in the second half, striker Otunsanya and goalkeeper Favour Bala kept the team in the lead and the gaffer was full of praise for both players and the rest of the team.

“I think at that point, most importantly for us, was to stay in the game and to control the outcome of the game; because we were 2-1 up and with that we could win the game and be champions. “We just tried to stay in the game, make sure we don’t concede again in the game which we did and eventually got a goal on the counter late on”.

“I was very impressed with those individual performances and they were outstanding but other players contributed to our success in the game. I give kudos to everybody, it’s a team game and a team’s success,” he concluded.

On his part, the chairman of the club Kayode Momoh, spoke about the team’s little success in just its first year and its future plans.

“It has been an interesting journey over the past year. Definitely, this is the beginning of more things to come for Star Builders Academy. We nurture the right talents that will represent the national teams and also be able to go to Europe to do well for themselves and for the club”

“This is our first major tournament but we have been taking part in various scouting programs in the last six months and some of our players have been picked. Currently, we have one of our talents in Leganes of Spain, one will soon move to Spain as well, and recently another one was on trial at Sparta Prague (Czech Republic).

“So we have been able to identify the right talents and we are able to nurture them well, thanks to the coaches and administrators at the club who are managing the academy professionally.”

“In the long-term, we plan to have our own facility cos we are currently using a rented camp. As the fortunes of the Academy continue to blossom, we expect that we will be able to own our own. We also hope to become one of the best football academies in Nigeria and Africa as a whole” he concluded.

Following the success at the state league, the chairman and the coach said they look forward to participating in more tournaments and leagues around their base in order to groom the right talents in the next few years.

It was a flying start for the former Stars Builders Academy player, as he came off the bench to register his name on the score sheet with a goal and two assists for his side’s big win on the night.

Segun’s involvement was meant to be an assessment of his fitness level ahead of the start of the Eliteserien league, but his impact proved too strong and very clear that he is in top shape and very much ready to paint the league red with goals when it officially gets underway next week.

Segun who recently signed a deal with the Norwegian side last month impressed during the club’s preseason tour of Spain and is being considered as one of the biggest prospects they will be looking forward to when the league starts next week.

Segun is also expected to be one of the foreign based professional players Coach Isah Ladan Bosso will be tilting towards when he begins preparation ahead of the FIFA U-20 men’s world Cup.

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Otusanya who remains one of Nigeria’s hottest prospect, with his rich vein of goalscoring form caught the attention of Haugesund and several other suitors but was invited by the Norwagian club early in February, seeing the huge potentials in him while in the camp of Nigeria’s Flying Eagles.

A statement by the Club’s Sporting Director, Eirik Opedal says “FK Haugesund is very happy to sign Segun Otusanya. He is a good boy with alot of talent. We are looking forward to exploring his talent and hopefully develop him to a successfull footballer”

Responding to the deal, Segun’s manager Mr Tunde Soneye expressed delight with the way everything turned out and was equally excited with the conclusion of the deal.

“We had a lot of offers for Segun due to his brilliant performance while in camp with the National U20 team”

“We had to carefully look through them and select what we feel is the best for the boy in terms of his development and career progression”

“Segun is a talented natural goal scorer who will some day lead the attack for the senior national team”

Segun was one of the hottest striker at the U-20 national team camp. He scored 8 goals in 6 matches for the Flying Eagles in their build up games before the U-20 AFCON championship in Egypt where the team secured a world cup ticket and finished third at the competition.

The youngster, who was part of the U23 side that eliminated Tanzania in the Olympics Qualifier in October, has been given a call-up to the Flying Eagles ahead of the 2023 Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt.

It will be recalled that Bosso’s side have been in camp for a few weeks with a large pool of players, but the former Adamawa United coach has extended call-ups to other youngsters after a significant number of them were sent home due to various reasons.

Otusanya’s call-up comes as one of the rewards for Stars Builders Academy following their victory at the Ogun State League about four months ago. A final where Otusanya starred by scoring a brace to ensure his side claim their first title since creation.

Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles clinched the WAFU B title back in May, defeating Benin Republic in the final to represent the zone in Egypt next February.

The U20 Africa Cup of Nations will take place from 18th February – 12th March 2023 in Egypt. The top four teams will qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup scheduled to hold in Indonesia from 20th May – 11th June next year.

The youngster, who was part of the U23 side that eliminated Tanzania in the Olympics Qualifier in October, has been given a call-up to the Flying Eagles ahead of the 2023 Africa U20 Cup of Nations in Egypt.

It will be recalled that Bosso’s side have been in camp for a few weeks with a large pool of players, but the former Adamawa United coach has extended call-ups to other youngsters after a significant number of them were sent home due to various reasons.

Otusanya’s call-up comes as one of the rewards for Stars Builders Academy following their victory at the Ogun State League about four months ago. A final where Otusanya starred by scoring a brace to ensure his side claim their first title since creation.

Meanwhile, the Flying Eagles clinched the WAFU B title back in May, defeating Benin Republic in the final to represent the zone in Egypt next February.

The U20 Africa Cup of Nations will take place from 18th February – 12th March 2023 in Egypt. The top four teams will qualify for the FIFA U20 World Cup scheduled to hold in Indonesia from 20th May – 11th June next year.

Young but hugely experienced, Ezema was an integral part of Imama Amapakabo’s backroom staff that brought the NPFL title back to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in 2016, ending a 32-year drought while playing some of the most exhilarating football in Nigerian topflight history.

He was also there with Gbenga Ogunbote as Rangers ended an even longer dry spell in the Federation Cup with a stunning comeback that saw them claw back three goals with fifteen minutes left to defeat Kano Pillars on penalties in Asaba in 2018.

After five years with the Flying Antelopes, Ezema has now deployed his considerable talents to moulding raw talent at the Ijebu Ode-based Stars Builder Academy.

It’s a different kind of environment to what he is used to but the LaLiga-trained coach says while he believes he is ripe for a job in the topflight, working with youngsters is not widely removed from what he’s done throughout his professional career.

“Well, it has not been very challenging for me because I think I’ve been long overdue to head a team in the Premier League,” he told busybuddiesng.com about the demands of working with young talent.

“But being that I’m here, it’s still an opportunity for me to develop players, to coach football, to instil my own game ideas and it has not been a problem for me because these things have been structured over the years and, these things have been organized so it’s just me putting it to work.”

And while he enjoys what he does at the moment, Ezema says he is open to opportunities to head a team in the NPFL and his self-belief bubbles to the surface as he lists his accomplishments with Rangers to show “that there is no Premier League club in the country that I cannot lay my hands on and I won’t do well”.

“Talking about the Premier League, I think that there is no Premier League club in the country that I cannot lay my hands on and I won’t do well,” he says.

“I spent five seasons in Rangers and I was instrumental in Rangers winning the league and the FA Cup and participating in the CAF Champions League [and] Confederation Cup in consistent seasons so I’m not new to any level.

“I’m happy here, if bigger chances come, I’ll still prove myself. Football is football anywhere.”

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Speaking to the media after the game, Chairman of Stars Builders, Kayode Momoh, attributed the success of the Academy to the hardwork and commitment of everyone involved.

‘Today is a monumental occasion in the history of our Academy. Today is a testament to the professionalism and dedication of our management, staff, and players.