56 teams tango for trophies as Bola Akindele cup begins in Lagos
By Uzor Odigbo
The 6th edition of U-16 boys & girls Bola Akindele Cup will kick off on Saturday at the Nigeria Railway Institute football pitch, Ebute Metta, Mainland, Lagos.
32 teams are expected to take part in the boys category,while 24 teams would feature in the girls category.
The opening match would be played between St Micheal FC against Shooting Babes, while Ultimate FC faces Santos FC in the second match in the boys category.
Match coordinator, Taofeek Ajibola said arrangements have been put in place to kick off the opening and urged all the participating teams to abide by the rules and regulations.
“We are starting the competition this Saturday and all the teams are looking forward to the opening match.This is the competition being sponsored by Courteville Business Solution headed by Otunba Adebola Ismail Akindele and we are using this medium to urge our participating players and coaches to be ambassadors of their teams and shun vices that can tarnish the image of the competition,”he said.
The cup donor, Otunba Akindele who doubles as General Managing Director of Courteville Business Solutions explained further that sponsoring a grassroots football competition of this magnitude is borne out of passion he has for the round leather game.
He noted that the company is not only sponsoring football alone but also committed to other projects which is part of company’s corporate social responsibility.
“The company is sponsoring the competition not because of the profit but we are doing this to empower the young footballers who want to take football as their career. I’m happy that some of the players who played in this tournament before are currently in Golden Eaglets and female junior national teams.This is a good news for us and we are still committed to sponsor this tournament on yearly basis, “he said.
Akindele tasked the organisers to work with reliable football scouts who can mentor and nurture the players that would be discovered in the final.
The Ogun state born sports philanthropist however said he would be happy if organisers can invite football scouts around to watch final where talents would be discovered and nurture to stardom.
He however announced sum of two million naira as a prize winning money that would be shared among the four teams in both categories.
According to him, the winners would go home with N400,000 with a giant trophy,second position would pocket N300,000, while third and fourth position would receive N200,000 and N100,000 respectively in both categories.
