Salisu Yusuf to Lead NPFL’s All Stars to Spain

Nigeria caretaker coach Salisu Yusuf will lead a Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) selected team to a series of matches in Spain that will feature top La Liga sides Valencia and Malaga in August.

The NPFL All Stars selected side will play in the Carranza & La Liga World Tournament and also against Valencia CF.

For the Carranza and LaLiga World Tournament, the NPFL All Stars will play Malaga CF on August 12 and 13, but before then, will play their first game in Spain against Valencia CF on August 10.

Yusuf will be assisted by Wikki Tourists coach Abdu Maikaba and Imama Amapakabo from Rangers, whose teams are leading the Nigeria league.

Imama assisted Yusuf for the recent Super Eagles friendlies against Mali and Luxembourg in Europe.
Yusuf, 54, has worked with the home-based Eagles for the recent CHAN in Rwanda and has previously handled the country’s top clubs Enyimba and Kano Pillars.

The invitational to the tournament is part of the recently signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the League Management Company (LMC) and the Spanish Football League, LaLiga.
Chairman of the LMC, Shehu Dikko announced the firming of the plans for the tour after a meeting in Abuja last Friday with LaLiga Africa Representative, Antonio Barradas.

The Ramon de Carranza Trophy is a pre-season tournament organised by Cadiz CF in memory of its former President, Ramon de Carranza.
It has been played since 1955 and is rated one of the prestigious summer tournaments in Spain alongside the Teresa Herrera Trophy.

Sevilla CF won the inaugural edition in 1955 while Atletico Madrid are the defending champions.
Some of the top European and South American teams that have participated in the tournament include 2012 winners, Club Desportivo Nacional and Benfica of Portugal, Sampdoria of Italy, Flamengo and Vasco Da Gama of Brazil amongst others.

The NPFL/LaLiga partnership was consummated at the Abuja Hilton on April 26 and provides for extensive collaboration between the two leagues in the areas of players development, management capacity building and knowledge sharing.

Dikko also disclosed that the visit will provide opportunity for selected club administrators to have a close study of club management, match day organization and other activities for the good administration of clubs in the league through scheduled interactions with La Liga clubs’ top officials.