Nosayaba Iyamu, 36, from Nigeria, has a burning passion for football and IT. He is currently a football Manager or Head Coach as he prefers to be called in England with Harrogate Railway FC and also an IT Technical Consultant within the private sector.
Nosayaba has 15 years’ experience in IT, which has provided him the opportunity to work around the world including serving in the Nigerian Army (82 Division). His past experience in England has seen him working as an IT Manager within the educational sector and Head of IT at a National Television Network.
Having always enjoyed football and playing at University level, Nosayaba has gone on to train as a Coach to teach players from grassroots level all the way up to senior players. It is this passion that he is wanting to put to use with African youths helping to foster a culture of development in sport and education side by side.
He has completed his English FA Licenses (Level 1, 2 and Youth Modules 1,2,3) and his European UEFA B License. He is currently working on his UEFA A and hopes to complete his European UEFA Pro License afterwards. The versatile coach also holds a Goalkeeping qualification from The North American, Central American and Caribbean Soccer Confederation, best known as Concacaf, Talent Spotting / Scout licenses and is a member of the League Managers Association (LMA).
He began his coaching career 13 years ago in Manchester, England. In 2009, he organised a World Cup based tournament with pupils of a primary school in Wigan, to get both male and female children interested in the game. The turnout exceeded all expectations and led to the formation of a school team that went on to reach the final of the region’s School Cup.
Nosayaba also had the opportunity to work with an English Premier League Women’s team alongside an England women’s national team coach, to support the growth of women’s football in the area. Engaging with women in the community of all ages he worked to encourage participation and create a positive image of women’s football.
He went on to Coach Boothtown FC U9s,10s and U11s, a community in West Yorkshire, England that has socio-economic challenges, as well as assisting with the U15 team coaching. It is while coaching here that Nosayaba identified a wider role than football coach, and began a holistic approach providing football coaching at the same time as emotional and educational support for players. Many of the players came from troubled backgrounds and experienced difficulties off the pitch. Nosayaba was able to provide mentoring through the guise of football to help these players flourish on and off the field. Successes while with this team included winning the silver medal in the U10s state tournament in 2012 and providing a safe and welcoming environment for the players to come and be part of a team.
During his time as an IT Manager in the educational sector, Nosayaba coached a secondary school U16s team where he won the league and reached the state semi-finals. This led to him being head hunted by another West Yorkshire team to join their elite coaches in both U15s and U16s. Some of the players have now gone on to have professional careers in the game.
In 2014 Nosayaba joined Harrogate Town U17s. They had a very successful season completing the double with the league and supplementary cup. His hunger for player development and the challenge of the game led him to his next role with local rivals Harrogate Railway U16s, where he has added to his previous success and completed the treble (winning three cups). The most notable victory was the County Cup final with a convincing 4-1 win. Nosayaba has since gone on to win the Maddison Cup and the League this season.
With many successes at home he has also sought to build his international coaching experience with time spent with the Barbados national team, clubs in Italy and the US (including Houston Dynamos in Texas).
His aim now is to take his coaching and professional experience and build a football academy in Africa to help young players develop and to work alongside a National team. His first step to achieving this will be taking up an invitation to meet with Prince, in Nigeria to discuss what this might look like and how they work together to get this off the ground. The academy's aim is to focus on football, but also incorporate vocational education in IT to allow young black people to learn life skills to equip them for a professional career in either industry. His experience of working with football players of all ages and abilities from a variety of backgrounds and his extensive career in the IT industry provides an impeccable foundation for the success of the academy.
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