Celebrating Foreign-based Players' Clearance By FIFA Shameful - Gara Gombe

  Celebrating Foreign-based Players' Clearance By FIFA Shameful - Gara Gombe By Omolagba Oluwayemi The former Chairman Gombe State Football Association, Gara Gombe has described the celebration that followed the switching of allegiance of eight foreign-based players to play for Nigeria as shameful, BSNSports.com.ng can report. Gara, in a voice-note made available to BSN Sports said: "Going through the celebrations, euphoria and comments that came up after the FIFA clearance of about eight players for Nigeria national teams from the diaspora, it is a shame that we are celebrating such. "It is self indicting that we now have to rely on diaspora to have players for our national teams. Although I see nothing wrong with people having dual nationality to switch allegiance or taking the decision to play for Nigeria, but the fact that we are accepting that we don't have a home grown programme to develop players or a home grown basket to pick players from. "We don't have a home grown league that can produce players for the national teams and the danger is when these players we are celebrating today starts playing for our national teams, we will discover that they are all good and none of them can be dropped, further buttressing the fact that you cannot play for Nigeria unless you're based abroad. "This has been a continuous thing which the Super Eagles Coach Gernot Rohr has also continued thereby destroying our football culture and the local league in the process. "Although to me we don't have a league, but clubs playing football competition and even as at that, the coach is yet to see anything good in the local players that we have in Nigeria and 100 percent of his invitation for the national team have been from the diaspora, basically doing nothing to help develop the local players. "With these players switching allegiance, I begin to wonder what will happen to our football academies in a country of over 250 million people and yet we are celebrating just eight players switching allegiance to play for the national teams. "It is unfortunate, self indicting, nothing to celebrate but rather should be ashamed of ourselves." Gara concluded. FIFA on Wednesday cleared eight new players eligible to play for the Super Eagles. They are: Ademola Lookman (Fulham FC), Jordan Torunarigha (Hertha BSC), Nathan Tella (Southampton FC), Tosin Adarabioyo (Fulham FC), Ovie Ejaria (Reading FC), Noni Madueke (PSV), Sheyi Ojo (Cardiff City) and Ike Ugbo (Cercle Brugge).