THE pathway to a career in soccer is far from straightforward, but not impossible and by welcoming the world, Lola Sports is helping provide opportunities for young ambitious players.
Abiola Sanusi, born in Nigeria but who grew up in Dublin and now lives in Dunmurry, played for Shamrock Rovers, Carrick Rangers, Dungannon Swifts and Miami Dade FC, founded Lola Sports as a way to honour his late mother who was supportive of his interest in the sport.
Having built up his own network during his playing years, he would work with coaches in various countries who develop players until they finish school and then they are able to come to Belfast to team-up with Lola Sports and from there, they are developed further until capable of being showcased to clubs.
The company’s mission is to provide a platform to showcase athletes’ talent in front of national coaches and scouts. Those athletes come from around the world and is about more than just sport as they are given the opportunity for education and learning to speak English whilst honing their on-field skills.
“We had a player from Brazil and the likes of PSV Eindhoven were interested in him, but felt he was too light,” he explained.
“They wanted his technical ability and also his English to improve, so he was with us for six months getting his English up but also training with us to develop the Irish way of playing, adding that to his technical ability, and now he is in Portugal with a club who look like they will sign him.”
Abiola has plans to kick-start the Lola Academy fully in 2024 in conjunction with the South Eastern Regional College.
Currently, they have ties with Crewe United FC with some of its players lining out for the club, but have also provided players to many more clubs.
Indeed, there was a tie-in with Larne FC through the Steven Gerrard Academy of which Lola retains a good working relationship, but Abiola’s ambitions were always to build up his own project and that is going from strength to strength having built up a network of over 135 professional teams in Brazil, the United States, Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France and have ambitions for more.
“We sent a player to Linfield in the summer and this week we had a trial game with them, so hopefully they find one or two more they like,”
“We have a multi-club system where you can send a player to this team or that team to give them opportunities. We are also going into Laurelhill school in Lisburn with coaches and agents to look at players, the project and what we do to speak to the kids and explain to them about what it takes to become a pro. We are hoping to start an after-school link with the school.”
Aaron Boyd in action
However, it’s not just players from abroad as recently, Belfast’s Aaron Boyd earned trials in the Netherlands, while there are players from the south and England also involved, giving Lola Sports a multi-cultural feel, which is a major objective.
The players have been involved in showcase games recently against Linfield Swifts and the Steven Gerrard Academy and next summer they plan to do the travelling for another showcase in Belgium to widen the opportunities for them to be noticed by clubs as Abiola feels a move to England should be the be-all and end-all in terms of a young player’s ambition.
“Yes, we want the international players, but also players from here to mix with them as they can all learn from each other. They might all be from a different background, but it doesn’t matter as they all play together.
“I know from experience that clubs in England may pick up a young player, pay their home club a good fee but by the time they are 19 or 20, they’ve been released and there is no support system for them.
“My thing is how to open the door for Irish players as if you look at the stats, Ireland is the third-most represented country in the Premier League, Championship, League One or League Two. But it doesn’t have to just be England as why can’t a player go to PSV, Borussia Dortmund or one of those teams? When the players go there, the Irish clubs make more money.
“We took Aaron Boyd to Holland two weeks ago for trials and he had been at Linfield, but was thinking of packing in football at just 20, but we advised and worked with him and now he’s got this trials. There are so many players like him out there that are lost to football who could be a top talent.”
