“My calling is football evangelism,” those were the exact words of Daniel Ogunmodede popularly called “Ijaball” when he spoke to Sports247 on the promotion of his team Remo Stars and a contract offer from Portugal.
Daniel Ogunmodede joined Remo Stars as the Youth coach and in his years in charge he has developed loads of players which led to him being put in charge of the entire youth system and in that period, he has overseen the transfer of at least ten youth players from Remo to clubs in Portugal.
“It’s a good experience for the lads and an elated moment for me. I started a youth development program in the club and now the program has earned the team promotion to the NPFL. It’s a special moment that I cherish for the rest of my life and I hope the boys will take it up from there and know they’ve got what it takes to make it in football,” Dan said.
“My calling is football evangelism, I’m an evangelist of football education, I have a passion for it, I follow my dream and it’s working magic. Seeing the talent, nurturing them, giving them the mentality that they can, it’s just a switch between development and performance and that’s where the problem lies and I’m able to have the key to that,” he continued.
Though he would not get the chance to coach his beloved side in the Nigerian Professional Football League, that’s not to be sad about because he’s moving on to more opportunities as he signed a contract offer to be one of the coaching staff of CD Feirense in Portugal and he’s proud of it.
“It’s a dream come true sincerely, I’ll like to thank the management of the club most especially our true father, Hon. Kunle Soname for the trust they have in my philosophy, I do not take it for granted,” Dan told Sports247.
“When the offer came I didn’t think about it twice before accepting it because I knew it’s an opportunity to show the whole world that a young boy from Africa can make it in coaching. You can now say, Ijaball to the world,” he concluded.
