In its bid to reposition football development at the grassroots, Match International Company and 1xBET sports betting company have put together 40 teams from across the 37 local governments in Lagos State to compete for honours.
Organisers said in Lagos at the unveiling ceremony on Monday that the 40 teams would be divided into five conferences in the six-week event scheduled to kick off from October 3.
Chairman of Match International and former Nigeria international, Mr. Waidi Akanni, said grassroots development remained the only sustainable way to discover and groom future champions.
“We started this partnership four months ago because we believe in the talent that Nigeria possesses and we need to discover them first before nurturing them,” Akanni said.
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“We have also involved the chairman of Nigeria National League in this project because we seek synergy to move from this stage to the next.
Chairman of 1xBET, Oluwafemi Babalola, said the organisers had also involved other ex-internationals Daniel Amokachi and Austin Eguavoen as ambassadors to motivate the young talents to be discovered at the latest tournament.
“These youngsters will have the opportunity to be under the tutelage of outstanding ex-internationals and the world will be at their feet,” Babalola said.
Eguavoen, who also attended the unveiling, urged the youths to make the best of the opportunity.
“We didn’t have these many opportunities during our time, this platform is a great platform to start grow from,” the NFF Technical Director said.
