Owing to unforseen logistics challenges, dates for the NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation pre-season Super Cup has been adjusted even as the venue remains the Mobalaji Stadium, Onikan in Lagos.

The NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation pre-season Super Cup tournament packaged by Tingo Media was to kick off on Thursday December 1 and end on the 4th. 

However, Davidson Owumi the Head of Operations of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) in a memo explained that the date had to be shifted to December 6-9.

Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation is dangling an unprecedented ₦100m prize money for the competition which involves the traditional four clubs of the NPFL, namely Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC), Rangers International, Enyimba International and Bendel Insurance.

“We regret to announce a slight shift in schedule for the NPFL-Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation pre-season Super Cup tournament due to unexpected logistics reasons that arose. However, the venue remains unchanged as the tournament now holds from December 6-9”, he said in the memo.

Individual prizes in the tournament include ₦1million each for the Highest Goal Scorer and the Most Valuable Player (MVP).

A cash cow for football stakeholders in Lagos State and its environs has been created for top eight private grassroot football teams, onwardnews24.com can reveal.

The three day scouting football event tagged ‘No Offside, Magnificent 8 Inside Cage’ is organized by 36 Lion and Diamond Sports Agency where 35 million will be contested for among the participating clubs.

The eventual winners will smile home with 20 million, Runners Up will get 10 million while Second Runners Up team will get 5 million naira cash prizes.

According to the joint sponsor of the event, Hajj Gafar Liameed, the three football fiesta will come up between 17th and 20th of October, 2022 at the commercial capital of Nigeria.

Hajj Liameed who is also the President of 36 Lion said the idea behind the soccer meet was borne out of passion and zeal to identify more talented players in the state, give them the platform and exposure to achieve greatness in life.

He added the joint sponsorship will not only give humongous price to the winners but also facilitate top football scouts will be on ground to identify talents for possible opportunities in European football

“I am not doing it alone, it is a consortium of top private club owners in Nigeria, giving back to the stakeholders and presenting our players with great opportunities.

Every Nigerian child are born with a Football gene in them. It’s our job to identify their physical differences, give them the best environment to maximize their potentials.”

It would be a festival of lights, sparks and fireworks when Nigeria’s Super Eagles wing wizard Moses Simon alongside other Nigerian foreign based players take on BYT Academicals in an exhibition game at Eagles Club, Surulere.

The game will feature Nantes and Super Eagles star Moses Simon, Karo Etebo, Isaac Success, Peter Olayinka, Rabiu Ibrahim etc.

The Managing Partner of B.Y.T Academical and co-organizer, Omobolanle Osoba said preparations are now in finishing gears, as they are set to host a magnificent game of friendly tussle. He said “this exhibition game will feature some of the top players and we are really excited to establish this platform for everyone”

The game will be played on Wednesday, 15th June 2022, 4pm at Eagles’Club, Lagos.

Kada Kings defeated Kwara United 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 25-21) in the men’s opening match at the ongoing 2022 Nigeria Volleyball Super Cup in Lagos state on Sunday.

Kada Kings began their quest by winning the first set of the game 25-22 before Kwara United took the second set by 26-24. Kwara United lost their momentum in the third and fourth set as Kada Kings took both sets 25-23, 25-21.

The Head Coach of Kada Kings, Jonathan Thaj said his boys will not get carried away by the win over newly promoted Kwara United.

He said their target is to test run their chances of excelling at the 2022 Nigeria Volleyball Premier League.

Thaj said, “For the team, the win against Kwara United is a testimony that the boys are ready for the bigger picture. Kwara United gave us a good fight but we took the deserved victory.

“We are not afraid of the Premier League teams participating; when the time comes to face them my boys will definitely give good account of themselves”, he added.

Meanwhile, Super Cup:

Highly Experienced COAS Spikers beat Kwara United 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 25-17) in the women’s opening match.

Day 2 Fixtures

Men:

Kano Pillars v Kwara United 1pm

Offa VC v Kada Kings 3pm

Women

Nigeria Immigration Service v COAS Spikers 5pm

The Atlas Lionesses are drawn against Mali and Nigeria in Group A of the six-nation competition and the former Zaragoza star is excited about her team’s chance to test themselves against women’s football powerhouses in Africa.

“For us, it’s a good opportunity to know first, our level, what we should improve on and also the level of the teams that we may likely play at the Women Africa Cup of Nations,” El Haj, who recently helped ASFAR win the UNIAF Women’s Champions League title, told ABC Media.

“We play against Mali a lot of times, so we know each other. But it will be our first game with Nigeria and we know they are a big and strong team that always fight for titles.”

On their ultimate goal at the competition, the 26-year-old said: “Our ambition is to win this tournament and improve ourselves. 

“It will be a very exciting competition with big teams competing in it, thanks to everyone who organised this tournament.”

El Haj will aim to inspire the 2022 Women Africa Cup of Nations hosts to success in Nigeria, who are the Cup holders and nine-time African champions.

Head Coach Mercy Tagoe-Quarcoo has invited 30 players to the camp of the Black Queens in preparation for the maiden edition of the Aisha Buhari Invitational Tournament taking place in the City of Lagos, Nigeria 13th – 21st September 2021.

Ghana play in Group B of the tournament against Cameroon and South Africa. In the roster, there are 22 home–based professionals and eight foreign-based players, including team captain Elizabeth Addo and Grace Asentawaa of Spanish club, Real Betis.

THE FULL SQUAD
Fafali Dumehasi (Police Ladies), Kerrie McCarthy (Kumasi Sports Academy), Mary Neequaye (Immigration Ladies), Abigail Tawiah Mensah (Berry Ladies), Victoria Antwi-Agyei (Kumasi Sports Academy), Gladys Amfobea (Lady Strikers), Beatrice Sesu (Police Ladies), Jaqueline Asamoah (Kumasi Sport Academy), Ellen Coleman (Lady Strikers), Janet Egyir (Hasaacas Ladies)
Linda Eshun (Hasaacas Ladies), Janet Adu Agyemang (Fabulous Ladies), Philicity Asuako (Police Ladies), Nina Norshie (Berry Ladies) Justice Tweneboa (Ampem Darkoa Ladies), Mary Essiful (Soccer Intellectuals), Grace Adams (Berry Ladies), Henrietta Annie (Police Ladies), Monica Addai  (Berry Ladies), Rashida Ibrahim (Berry Ladies), Elizabeth Owusua (Sea Lions), Milot Pokua  (Hasaacas Ladies), Sophia Agyarkwa (Soccer Intellectuals), Vivian Adjei Konadu (Thunder Queens), Sonia Opoku (Ampem Darkoa Ladies), Veronica Appiah (Hasaacas Ladies), Naomi Animah (Kumasi Sports Academy)

Foreign-Based: Jennifer Cudjoe (Gotham FC), Grace Asentewaa (Real Betis Feminas), Wasila Diwura Soale (LSU), Elizabeth Addo (Djurgaden IF), Portia Boakye (Djurgaden IF), Eunice Beckman Nketiah (FC Cologne), Alice Kusi (ZFK Spartak), Priscilla Adubea (Racing Santander)

Former Super Falcons’ Head Coach, Eucharia Uche, has declared her support for the Aisha Buhari Cup, saying that with the tournament, future is assured for Nigerian women and the girl-child.

In an interview on Thursday, Uche, who led the Falcons at the 2011 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, said the invitational tournament with the theme Playing For Good under the Futured Assured Programme of the Aisha Buhari Foundation, is a project capable of taking the Nigerian girl-child and the women folks generally to greater heights in all endeavours of life.

“I give kudos to Her Excellency the First Lady for putting her weight behind women football in Africa. We just pray that more positive support like this continue to come for the gender game. Women football has come to stay; there is no going back,” Eucharia said.

She added: “For the Future Assured Programme, this is the right step in the right direction, because over the years, women and the girl-child have been poorly treated and marginalised in Nigeria and in Africa. And for women football, you know that, most of the talented players are from very poor homes. These are the ones who were fortunate to be discovered to become in the long run club players, national team players and international stars, who ended up becoming the bread winners of their families and even legends in the game, while a large percentage of the girl-child who were not discovered to play football and other women sports, found themselves on the streets doing all sorts things we may not want to talk about here.

“If well propagated and messages disseminated across Nigeria and Africa during the invitational tournament, the days of seeing the girl-child stray into the streets unguided will soon be over. The girl-child and women can be put on the right pedestal early enough to discover their talents in various spheres of life, such that would make them useful to their families, Nigeria, Africa and the world at large. This is quite commendable by the First Lady.”

For the tournament proper, Eucharia admonished Nigerian players to take the competition serious, countenancing each match as the Final.

The colourful supporters club came in their large numbers in all green attire singing the best of tunes with trumpet and drums to go with it to the delight of administrators and fans.

According to Olutoye Orishabiyi, the acting president of the club, the club is highly honoured by the acknowledgement and endorsement the club received today for being Nigeria’s first Athletics organised supporters group.

Olutoye said: ” We are highly honoured today as our appearance caught most of the sports administrators on aware and it was indeed a big surprise with acknowledgements by the Honorable Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, Chief Tonobok Okowa (AFN President), Chief Solomon Ogba, Mr Bukola Olopade, Mary Onyali, Yusuf Alli, Chief Bisi Olatilo and host of others were present at the Lagos State Open Athletics Championship for the Summer Olympic Qualifiers Tokyo 2021″.

The experienced supporter’s club lord said
some Nollywood actors and actresses among our members were present at the stadium to add colour to the event.

He started further that the membership of the club is open to Nigerians as their supports will help to move Athletics forward in Nigeria because the club is ready to do its bit to bring Athletics back to its enviable position in Nigeria Sports.

” The club is open to Nigerians who are willing to be a part of the Athletics family by lending support through becoming a member of the club.

We want Nigerians to give their support to Athletics just the way they give supports to football, the country has more to gain in Athletics as it is a multi-medal sport and the talents in the country can easily better the image of Nigeria in the committee of sports if properly supported. That’s what we are championing as a club” Olutoye stated.

The acting president attributed the success of the women relay to the presence of the supporters’ club as the Nigeria women 4×4 relay team punch an Olympic ticket at the Lagos Athletics Open a feat that has eluded the team at several attempts.

” We are happy that our presence motivated the team to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics and we have perfect plans to be at the making of champions at Yaba tech sports complex on Sunday to cheer the men 400×100 and 4×400 relay teams in their bid to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well” Olutoye concludes.

The atmosphere around the Yabatech Sports Complex is currently wearing a new look ahead of the 2021 National Championships and Invitational Relays starting on Thursday, June 17.

The trials, which will be used to select Nigeria’s contingent to the delayed Games of the XXXII Olympics in Tokyo which is scheduled to hold from July 23 to August 8, 2021, will see 11 events taking place on the opening day.

The fans will have the opportunity of watching queen of the track, Blessing Okagbare (100m and 200m) competing alongside other top athletes like Tobiloba Amusan (100mH), Ese Brume (Long Jump), Grace Nwokocha (100m and 200m), Ruth Usoro (Long and Triple Jump), Annette Echiunwoke (Hammer Throw), Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (Shot Put) among others.

The National Championships is the flagship event of the AFN where the nation’s top athletes will converge to compete for honours and qualifications for major Championships and Games.

Morning events will witness the 20km women and men final, the 100m prelims, 400m heat (men and women), 1,500m women final and the hammer women final.
Apart from the 100m finals expected to take place in the afternoon, there will be the shot put men final with all eyes on Chukwuebuka Enekwechi.

Tobi Amusan will be geared up towards erasing the African Record in the women’s 100m hurdles when she takes to the track in the heat with the men’s 110m hurdles also taking place on Thursday.

Other events on the opening day are javelin men final and the 5000m men final.

Speaking during the inauguration of the new AFN board by the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, in Abuja on Tuesday, Alao said he would be working alongside other state chairmen to develop track and field in the zone.

It would be recalled that Alao defeated the former vice president of the AFN, Olamide George, in the zonal election and has assured athletes and officials of a new dawn.

“Foremost I will say there was no winner as all we are looking forward to is the development of athletics in our zone,” he said.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank those who came out to vote, but I will say the work starts now.

“There are lots of programmes we have experimented with in Lagos since we came on board as an association that yielded positive results, and with this election over, we are going to see how we can replicate them throughout the zone.
“Now, we have to do things in the right way, we have to start earnestly, we have to rebuild, Nigeria must take back its rightful place.

“I have been in sports in the last 20 years, I will bring my experience to bear, on all assignments, I want to tell you that things will begin to change at the Southwest zone.
“I already have a lot of support, I also have a strong pedigree behind me, not just mine alone, but everyone supporting me.”