Government Secondary School, Imo emerged winners of the second edition of the Etisalat Under-15 School Cup after beating Government Model School, Bida, Niger by 4-2 carting home the trophy in a thrilling final game played at the Campos Square Mini-Stadium, Lagos Island last weekend.
For its feat, the winning school also took home the star prize of N2 million educational award and N50,000 each to players of the team, while the first-runner up Government Model School, Bida, Niger, went home with N1 million and N30,000 for each player of the team.
The second runner-up, Winners College Akure, Ondo who defeated Washington Memorial Grammar School, Anambra through the ‘sudden death’ penalty shootout after both schools had played for 90 minutes and extra time received the sum of N750,000 and each player took home N20,000.
The final match saw the Imo representative take possession of the match from the blast of the whistle.
However, the defence of the Niger school team was resilient until four minutes to the end of the first half when it crumbled and Nnadi Tochukwu, who emerged the Most Valuable Player of the competition scored the first goal of the final.
On resumption of the second half, the Niger boys showed seriousness and their efforts were rewarded with an equalizing goal. As both teams were on a one all, the tempo of the game changed and both teams scored each other in a dramatic fashion. The equalising goal from the Niger team spurred the Imo team who changed the course of the game and banged in two goals through Amaraegbu Anderson and skillful midfielder, Enwereji Uchenna 30 seconds to the end of the match.
Speaking before the pulsating final match, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Francesco Angelone expressed satisfaction with the level of the competition as well as the passion displayed by the teams.
Angelone said, “37 Secondary schools began with us at the preliminaries last year and eight regional teams emerged for the Quarter-finals stage in Lagos and the thrilling Semi-final matches produced the finalists.” He disclosed, “The Etisalat U-15 School Cup is our own way of providing a platform for young footballers to express their passion for the game and be rewarded for it.”
Angelone added that the partnership with FC Barcelona continues to discover and mould budding talents for African football.
In his own contribution, President, Nigerian School Sports Federation, (NSSF) Mallam Ibrahim Mohammad commended Etisalat Nigeria for creating such platform for Secondary students in the country.
Mallam Muhammad said, “We are proud to partner with Etisalat in this rewarding initiative. The idea is to marry football with education and we believe that all the participants have benefited positively from the initiative.”
The final which was watched by a mammoth crowd was also spiced with entertainment by talented singers like Terry G; Dammy Krane and May D.
There was also a Ball Juggling competition and the Jugglers went home with fantastic prizes.
