The 2015 GTBank Lagos State Principal Cup ended in a grand style at Teslim Balogun Surulere, Lagos with Ikotun Girls smashing Oriwu Senior Model in a 3-1 thriller in the female final match while in the male category Birrel Avenue ran away with 4-2 penalty against Keke High School after one-a-piece at regulated time.
From 615 teams drawn from Secondary Schools across six districts in Lagos State, Ikotun girls and Birrel boys are unstoppable force in Nigeria’s grass-root soccer.
The “Smash all Barriers” of the prestigious secondary school tournament is an annual football competition geared towards the development of grass roots football. The discovery of young football talents fostering camaraderie amongst secondary students as well as helping students actualize their dream of becoming professional footballers.
Speaking at the event, Salisu Anuoluwapo an SS2 student from Ikotun High School and Most Valuable Player said “I’m very happy to have helped my school lift GTBank Principal Cup 2015. I really appreciate my parents for standing by me when I started my football career as early as seven years.”
The young lady who had a brace for the finals, appreciated her parents further in her words, “Thank you for standing by me for the past eight years while achieving my dreams.
“I pay raft attention to both my academics and football because I know in the near future, I will be playing for super falcons which I believe will take me to next level in life as I look forward to playing like my role model, Lionel Messi.”
The new champions in both categories went home with a cheque of N1million each while the second placed teams got N750, 000 each.
The third place teams received N500, 000 each and the fourth placed teams went home with N250, 00 each at the end of the championship.
