The Catholic Diocese of Awka in Anambra State of Nigeria floated a Football Academy with the mission of nurturing talented boys and girls unto professional career in football. The Academy officially called DOSAD Football Academy started on April 4, 2016 and its male camp is located within the premises of St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, Enugwu-Ukwu in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State of Nigeria.
DOSAD Football Academy has about forty five players in boarding at the camp while about fifteen are on part-time, as they are in higher institutions of learning. These combine schooling and football. The players are drawn from different states across Nigeria including Lagos and Abuja.
Officially, DOSAD has sixty three registered players. This includes those who have passed through the three earlier stages of screening since 2015. DOSAD Academy is managed by the Directorate of Sports Awka Diocese (DOSAD) under the directorship of Rev. Fr. Coach Obinna Dike.
CONCEPTION
The idea of DOSAD Football Academy/Club was conceived by Rev. Fr. Coach Obinna Dike alongside Rev Frs Damian Ogwatta and Christian Umeojilinnaka, as well as Rev Fr Francis Chidume in earlier capacity. Fr Dike was sent by the Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Dr. Paulinus Chukwuemeka Ezeokafor to the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Lagos in 2014 to do a professional course in football coaching. The aim was to get a professional hand to begin and direct sports apostolate in Awka Diocese.
On coming back after his studies, Fr. Dike, now a grade one football coach, designed and began the Directorate of Sports, Awka Diocese popularly known as DOSAD SPORTS in 2014 November. In addition to making sports an apostolate, Fr Dike added the enterprise side of it to sustain, build up and challenge the youths.
With the successful take off of DOSAD SPORTS, there was a need to hit the ground running in sports expertise by identifying and nurturing budding talents to professional career. This hunger made coach Dike to seek for residence and sports complex for a professional football Academy.
The search for a place to achieve this aim was wooed and won over by the magnificent job a priest of Awka Diocese, Rev. Fr. Damian Ogwatta, was doing at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church Enugwu-ukwu. Fr. Ogwatta, an active player at half a century and a die-hard football lover, had miraculously converted a “stone quarry” field at St. Anthony’s Parish Enugwu-ukwu to an enviable lush green playing pitch. Add to it that he has crowned the place with a standard pavilion and Coach Dike truly fell for it.
A tea-cup discussion between Fr. Ogwatta and Coach Dike was followed by a formal letter of request to “cede” the hall under construction as a temporal abode for DOSAD Football Academy (DFA) to St. Anthony’s Parish Council. This ended up with all the parties smiling and excited. DOSAD FA was born.
In October 2017, Awka Diocese appointed Rev Fr Christian Umeojilinnaka, one of the founding fathers of DOSAD FA to head the DOSAD development initiatives at Nanka axis. Equally, a pro active DOSAD promoter, Rev Fr Evaristus Ezekwonna was made the DOSAD Camp Coordinator at Enugwu Ukwu St Anthony’s.
