The loudest cheer in Port Harcourt schoolboy football last season came at the Sharks Football Club Stadium on 9 December 2025, when Government Secondary School Elekahia thrashed GSS Rebisi 4-1 to win the New W.W. Whyte Cup. The prize was N2.5 million. The Niger Delta Development Commission paid it. For a parent looking for a football academy in Port Harcourt, that final says a lot about where Rivers talent is really being found.
| At a glance | What we could confirm |
|---|---|
| Best known academy | Real Madrid Football Academy, Port Harcourt (state owned) |
| Fees | No Port Harcourt academy we checked publishes official fees in the press |
| Real Madrid Academy places | Free for Rivers indigenes, 70/30 quota (The Guardian, 2021) |
| Active schoolboy showcase | New W.W. Whyte Cup, 22 schools in the 2025 edition |
| Active amateur showcase | Keves Global competition, 32 clubs, N7 million prize pot (2026) |
| Recent pro from Port Harcourt | Chibuike Nwaiwu, Trabzonspor (joined January 2026) |
What is actually running in 2025 and 2026
We tried to list every academy in the city with proof of activity in the last two seasons. It is short.
Plenty of names circulate online. Very few appear in 2025 or 2026 press coverage with a tournament, a trial date or an official statement behind them.
What the Rivers press does document is competition. Promise Alabere, chairman of Grassroots Initiative, told journalists in Port Harcourt in November 2025 that 32 players were discovered in the first edition of the W.W. Whyte tournament, and that his organisation and the NDDC were working on fixing them into clubs. He is a product of the old version of the competition himself.
Further out, the NNPCL/TotalEnergies OML58 host communities cup ended in late November 2025 with Obagi beating Akabta 1-0 in an under-18 final at Obite. Organising committee chairman Saheed Ogunsanya said two players from that edition would be sent to a football academy, and TotalEnergies JV deputy managing director Olivier Cassasoles said three standout players from earlier editions had already been sponsored into one. Neither named the academy.
That silence is typical.
Older boys have the fourth Keves Global competition at the Sharks Stadium, backed by the Rivers State FA. Thirty-two amateur clubs and eight All-Stars teams are chasing N7 million in prizes. Entries closed on 16 July 2026.
The Real Madrid Academy, briefly
We have covered admission in detail in our guide to the Real Madrid Football Academy in Port Harcourt, so a short summary will do. The Guardian reported in March 2021 that the school is free to all Rivers State indigenes, who make up 70 per cent of students, with the other 30 per cent of places open to the rest of the country. Sixty-six pioneer students arrived in October 2023. No official fees for non-indigenes have been published. We found no 2025 or 2026 press update on intake either. Check with the Rivers State Ministry of Sports first.
Alumni who turned pro
The most valuable recent export is a defender. Chibuike Nwaiwu was born in Port Harcourt and is listed as a product of the Borussia Digital Sporting Academy. He went through Heartland and Enyimba before Wolfsberger in Austria, and Football in Nigeria reported in June 2026 that Trabzonspor paid a reported 5.5 million euros for him in January, with a contract running to 2030.
Note the route. NPFL first.
That is the pattern to expect, and it is why the city's clubs still count. Rivers United won their maiden NPFL Youth League title in March 2024, beating Katsina United 4-2 in the final. Our guide to football clubs in Port Harcourt explains the senior structure those boys are trying to break into.
One cautionary case. Burna Boy launched a football academy in August 2024 with a Port Harcourt centre at the Yakubu Gowon Stadium in Elekahia, TheCable Lifestyle reported. We found no 2025 or 2026 report of that centre in action, and the website address published in 2024 no longer shows academy content.
Fees, trials and what parents should check
On fees, we will be blunt. No Port Harcourt academy we could verify publishes an official fee schedule. Blog figures could not be traced to any academy, so we have not repeated them. Before paying for a trial, ask for these.
- Proof of registration with the Rivers State Football Association, or a team entered in an RSFA competition
- A written fee breakdown, including any screening or kit charges
- Names of players who moved on to NPFL, NNL or foreign clubs
- The training venue and days, then an unannounced visit to watch a session
- For boarding programmes, proof that schooling continues alongside football
Parents comparing cities can read our guides to football academies in Lagos and football academies in Abuja, where the scene is better documented.
Our view
Rivers State does not lack talent or competitions; what it lacks is an academy sector that publishes fees, intakes and graduates the way a serious school publishes its results, so that a family can judge a programme before paying for it.
Until then, the safest shop window is the one everyone can see. Scouts watch the W.W. Whyte Cup, the RSFA amateur competitions and the Rivers United youth side. An academy that cannot show you its players there has not earned your trust.
This article was most recently revised and updated 21 seconds ago
