The third edition of the Bola Akindele Youth Cup featuring U-15 boys and U-16 girls kicked off in Lagos at the weekend with Rivers FC, Oshodi beating Legend FC, Surulere 1-0 in the boys’ category.
24 male teams and 16 female teams will compete for the N2 million prize money in the football tournament organised by the Lagos State Grassroots Soccer Association.
The tournament sponsored by Dr Adebola Akindele is targeted towards providing a platform for young football talents to exhibit their skills and ultimately help them to realise their soccer dreams.
At a media briefing and trophy presentation which heralded the competition, Akindele charged the organizers to help harness the development and growth of the participants some of whom will go on to represent Nigeria in the nearest future.
“For me, this competition in its third edition is my little way of giving back to society as we have to contribute our quota to the growth of society.
“We must also ensure that kids are taken off the streets. By so doing, our society will the better for it and we would be judged by posterity,” said Akindele who expressed joy that a player from the 2nd edition, Samson Tijani is already a member of Nigeria’s U-17 national team, the Golden Eaglets.
Winners in both male and female categories will pocket the sum of N400,000 each, while the runners up, third-placed team and the fourth-placed teams will get N300,000, N200,000 and N100,000 respectively.
The finals of the competition is slated for the Campos Mini Stadium, Lagos Island on August 4.
By Sulaiman Alao
