TheCable

Sunday Dare, the ministry of sports, was on Friday taken on tour of ‘Futball City’ built as the home of Portuguese football.

The tour was on the back of President Muhammadu Buhari’s trip to Portugal with the minister among member of Nigerian contingent.

Dare was guided on the tour of the gigantic facility by Ana Catrina, Portugal’s minister of sports; Teresa Romao, general secretary of the Portuguese Football Federation; and Humberto Coelho, its vice president.

The facility, which is the training centre for all national teams in Portugal, houses four football pitches, a football university, 45 executive rooms for players, two fully equipped gyms and eleven changing rooms, among others.

Dare applauded the Portuguese Football Federation for executing the football masterpiece in the space of 17 months.

According to the Portuguese federation, funds for the facility were sourced from FIFA grants and the private sector to add to the already established three standard football pitches and training facilities.

Dare, who had earlier visited Benfica’s headquarters and Estádio da Luz, remarked that Nigeria’s sporting infrastructure must continue to evolve to meet global standards.

“My vision for the resuscitation of current sports facilities in Nigeria is to lay foundation for what will be a continuous step by step transformation of sports infrastructure in Nigeria,” he said.