Mutiu Adepoju: "The NPFL All-Star tour to Spain is great for Nigerian football"

Mutiu Adepoju is uniquely well placed to comment on the benefits of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) All-Star team’s tour to Spain. By his own account, his playing career took off when he joined Real Madrid Castilla, and later Racing Santander and Real Sociedad in LaLiga, and he sees the All-Star tour as a great opportunity for everyone involved to learn and improve.

“It’s very important for Nigeria because football isn’t as developed as it should be,” Mutiu told LaLiga. “Nigeria is a major footballing force in Africa. Three years ago the League Management Company took over the Nigerian league and they understand the need to move forward, the need for development, the need to create the right atmosphere, the need for professionalism. LaLiga is going to help them do this. Nigeria is going to benefit greatly from this link.”

One of the first projects to be put into practice as a result of this agreement has been the tour to Spain by a specially-selected All-Star squad drawn from the brightest talents of the NPFL. The side have joined the LaLiga World programme and are due to play Valencia CF in a pre-season friendly on August 10, and then they compete in the prestigious Ramon de Carranza trophy against Atletico Madrid, Malaga CF and hosts Cadiz CF on August 12-13.

“Taking an NPFL All-Star team to play famous clubs such as Valencia and Atletico Madrid, playing in a famous tournament like the Ramon de Carranza, is great for Nigerian football,” Mutiu added. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. I think this is going to help the league, the clubs and the players. It’s a great opportunity for them all.”

A Nigerian All-Star team to play Trofeo Ramon de Carranza with #LaLigaWorld. 

Details: https://t.co/O7WNcX96ez pic.twitter.com/iDYXCBGLu3

— LaLiga (@LaLigaEN) July 18, 2016

Mutiu’s new role is to represent LaLiga in Nigeria, and he does so from a privileged position having spent most of his playing career in Spain. “I have many fond memories,” he said. “I joined Castilla in 1989, and worked under Vicente del Bosque helping them win promotion to the second tier. I learned a lot about professionalism. I remember scoring a hat-trick against Racing Santander and this was one of the reasons why they then signed me. I was Racing’s top scorer when we won promotion to LaLiga the next year. I ended up having a supporters’ club named after me! I went on to Real Sociedad and had four great years there helping them play in the UEFA Cup. I have so many great memories of playing in Spain.”

“LaLiga has changed a lot since then. It is much stronger, performing to a higher standard and much better organized. The last few years they have improved greatly, you can see from the LaLiga teams winning the Champions League and the Europa League. For me, it is the best in the world.”