Beyond Copa Lagos

By Ojeikere Aikhoje

Thanks to Kinetic Sports, organisers of the Copa Lagos Beach Soccer Worldwide, Lagos has now been positioned as a destination for the emerging sport in the country.

Beach football had been played recreationally all over the world for many years and in many different formats. In 1992 the laws of the game were envisioned and a pilot event was staged by the founding partners of Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) in Los Angeles.

Brazil’s Copacabana Beach has since become the home of Beach Soccer and has been used as a tool to boost the Latin America state for Place Branding.

In Nigeria, the Eko Atlantic Beach in Lagos is fast becoming our own Copacabana Beach.

The trio of England, South Africa and Brazil converged on Lagos for the inaugural edition in 2011, while it was the turn of Argentina, Portugal and Lebanon in 2012.

It turned out to be another exciting time under the Sun.

Lebanon were dark horses, but turned out to be one of the best teams on parade.

In fact, the Lebanese clearly justified their performance at the last Asian Indoor Games.
Nigeria & Beach Soccer

Nigeria remains the most successful nation in Africa.

Unlike other countries, Nigeria selects professional footballers from the domestic Premier League for Beach Soccer.

Nigeria's Supersand Eagles have won the CAF Beach Soccer Championship twice in 2007 and 2009, and have reached the last eight of the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup twice in 2007 and 2011.

For the second time, Nigeria’s Sand Eagles have emerged champions of Copa Lagos, not because of genuine efforts made to grow the emerging sport in the country by the football authorities.

Nigeria participated at the inaugural Beach Soccer Championship in Africa before Copa Lagos made its debut as an annual event.

Since 2006, Beach Soccer has officially become a part of us.

Ironically, all of Nigeria's beach soccer players, who have featured in Fifa, Caf and invitational tournaments, have been drawn from 11-a-side football in the absence of a beach soccer league.

At the end of the 2011 Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup, Nigeria was ranked 10th in the world behind Brazil, Portugal, France, Uruguay, Argentina, Russia, Spain, Italy and Mexico.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has failed to maximize the gains of Copa Lagos to promote the game locally.

However, all we do is wait for the invitational championships in Dubai or the World Cup qualifiers before dragging regular league stars to the beach in Badagry, Lagos.

Evergreen Isiaka Olawale, who is the captain of the side, Bartholomew Ibenegbu and Ogbonnaya Okemmiri can be used to grow the sport in Nigeria.

And the best way to grow the sport is to have a domestic league. This is the only way to make it dynamic. It is not a game for Premier League stars.

Legends like Eric Cantona, Mark Williams and Mark Fish were used to boost the status of the sport in their countries.

In fact, the former Bafana Bafana duo of Fish and Williams represented South Africa in 2006.

Countries that have participated in the Copa Lagos didn’t come with players in their domestic leagues.

Perhaps, the just concluded 18th National Sports Festival would have been the best opportunity to test run Beach Soccer in the country.

Elsewhere amateur players and retired professional footballers make up squads for Beach Soccer teams.

A Beach Soccer League will set the pace for the progress in the sport.

The Copa Lagos Beach Soccer Worldwide has simply highlighted the potential in the sport, but do we have to wait till December 2013 for another Beach Soccer experience.