In the opening Group A game played at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos, 36 Lion defeated Messiah FC 2-0 through the goals of Odom Chika and Edem Joseph while Smart City pipped Olukismet 2-1 in a Group B tie.

Alade Balogun drew the curtain raiser from the penalty spot in the 26th minute for Smart City and he doubled the advantage in the 42nd minute for his second goal of the game. Olukismet reduced the goals arrears in the 49th minute through Abdulrazaq Ridwan.

In another game played, Lateef Ganiu’s late double sealed a 2-0 win for De Potters over hard fighting Badagry United FC while FC Bethel relied on Taiwo Adebayor’s 40th minute strike to tame Jo Sportyne 1-0.

Relegated MFM managed to defeat 36 Lion 2-1 in the fifth game of the opening day of hostilities to hand the Lions their first defeat of the tournament. Saliu Murtala popped up with the opener for the Olukoya Boys in the 28th minute but 36 Lion replied with the equaliser in the 43rd minute through Ede Joseph. MFM had the last laugh when Ishyaku Yusuf swept the ball into the top corner for what turned out to be the winning goal in the 54th minute.

Day One fixtures was completed with the exciting 1-1 draw between Ikorodu City and Smart City FC.

At the end of the first day of hostilities, De Potters are atop in Group A with three points from one game while 36 Lion and MFM FC are second and third with three points each also but Lions have played two games. Badagry United and Messiah FC are fourth and fifth with no point yet.

In Group B, Smart City are at the top with four points from two games. FC Bethel are second with three points while Ikorodu City are in third spot with a point. Olukismet and Jo Sportyne are yet to secure any point.

The Jagaban Cup games continue on Wednesday morning at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

Jagaban Cup was put together to canvass for APC Presidential Flagbearer, Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the 2023 General Elections.

De Potters, FC Bethel, Olukismet, Jo Sportyne and 36 Lion would participate at the tournament.

Others are Smart City, Badagry United, MFM FC, Ikorodu City and Messiah FC.

Competition will hold from November 15th to 18th at Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

Coordinator, Wale Joseph said participants have started preparation and assured Lagosians of a wonderful tournament.

Organizers are targeting at least five thousand youths who will be live at the Grand Finale.

Those five thousand youths will influence another 50 thousand more across various communities in Lagos through grassroot football.

Clubs would be divided into two groups of 5 teams each for a round robin style format of 70 minutes per match.

The winner of each group shall meet in the final of 40 minutes per half game (80 minutes).

The runners up of each group shall play 3rd place match of 40 minutes per half.

The project is an initiative of 36 Lion Investment, Diamond Sports and Lagos Enigma.

Top European scouts from Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway and Spain would be on ground to select talented players at the competition.

Eight champions, the Smart City FC (Lagos State), Madiba FC (Lagos State), FC Ebedei (Ogun State), Police Barretta FC (Gombe), Kun Khalifa FC (Imo State), Aspire FC (Anambra State), Jnr Danburan (Katsina State) and Mailatarki Care FC of the Federal Capital Territory, will slug it out in the play-off to determine the overall winner of the NLO 2022 season.

According to the adept Chief Operating Officer(COO) of the nation’s third division football league, Olushola Ogunnowo.

“All is set for another epic six days of football display from the best and top teams from the 2021/22 season of the NLO.

“The idea behind the Championship Play-Off is simple, and that’s having the overall champion of the NLO season, despite the eight teams earning promotion to the Nigeria National League (NNL).

“Just as we have Rivers United as champions of the Nigeria Professional Football League(NPFL), the new NLO winner will emerge from the play-off.

“We are delighted that the Legacy Pitch, in the Sports City (Surulere) of Lagos is hosting the football fiesta.

“Fans in the cosmopolitan city will get to see the quality of our grassroots football that will be exhibited by the teams that emerged champions.

“Aside from fans catching a glimpse of our good football, they should also be top-notch officiating and quality organisation, which the NLO is known for.

“For followers of the NLO on social media, the play-off matches will be on live stream on the NLO TV App. The essence is for fans not to miss any action of the games but view them in their comfort zones and locations.”

With the eight teams beating the Sunday date for arrival in Lagos and knowing their groupings, the opening fixtures of the championship play-off, get underway from Monday with Group B matches.

Junior Danburam against Madiba FC at 10 am with the second game, Aspire FC and Police Barretta fixed for noon.

The Group B fixture will see Mailatarki Care FC tackle FC Ebedei at 2 pm while the last game for Matchday One between Smart City and Kun Khalifa FC is fixed for 4pm.

Secretariat of the nation’s third-tier domestic league announced via its media department that the Legacy Pitch, National Stadium in Surulere will host the six days.

Eight teams of Smart City FC (Lagos State), Madiba FC (Lagos State), FC Ebedei (Ogun State), Police Barretta FC, Kun Khalifa FC (Imo State), Aspire FC (Anambra State), Jnr Danburan (Katsina State) and Mailatarki Care FC of the Federal Capital Territory, will slug it out in the championship play-off to determine the overall winner for the NLO 2022 season.

The league body has also informed the team that it has made provision to accommodate a 25-man contingent, (made up of 20 players and five Officials) of each team.

The arrival date for all teams is fixed for Sunday, October 2nd while the kickoff date is 3rd October.

Opening fixtures of the championship play-off are Mailatarki Care FC versus FC Ebedei and Smart City versus Kun Khalifa FC billed for 2 and 4 pm respectively.

Meanwhile, the final is fixed for October 8th at the Legacy Pitch.

Remo Stars defeated Kwara United in the second semifinal game to seal their spot in the final 4-2 via penalties after the dramatic game ended 1-1 at duration time.

The newly promoted NNL side, Smart City will battle the CAF Confederation Cup campaigner, Remo Stars in the grand finale on Friday at 3pm.

“I want to congratulate the two clubs that made it to the final, and we are looking forward to an explosive final. We appreciate all the clubs that participated in the tournament, they made the tournament competitive. I love the passion and emotion of the clubs and their sportsmanship behavior,” said Chairman of the ValueJet Cup organizing committee, Otunba Tade Azeez. 

Smart City walked over Vandrezzer FC in the first semifinal game due to a sponsorship agreement with ValueJet Airline.

“ValueJet Airline are the premium sponsor of the tournament, and we must protect our agreement. The first communication to all the clubs was an invitation letter, and we invited 18 clubs to participate in the tournament. 10 clubs responded to our invitation and we invited all the clubs to our unveiling ceremony of our sponsor and the draw which was the platform we used to communicate the framework and sponsorship terms to all the clubs.

“We informed the clubs about the clause in our agreement with ValueJet Airline that all participating clubs would play with a branded jersey at the ceremony. Vandrezzer FC just like the other 9 clubs had a representative at the ceremony, we informed the clubs that the ceremony was important to clarify the rules and benefits of the tournament. We presented the jersey to Vandrezzer FC officials at the ceremony and they accepted our sponsorship terms which include the appearance fee and prize monies. 

“They (Vandrezzer) communicated to us after playing with the jersey in the first game without any issue and we further explain to them about the agreement with our sponsor. They had the opportunity to pull out of the tournament after the sponsor ceremony, we had the clubs and Airline management present at the ceremony in case of any dispute but we had none.

“We apologize to the football fans that came to the stadium to enjoy the game and those watching via our YouTube channel. We regret the unfortunate incident, we must protect the framework and sponsorship terms of the tournament after official communication to all the clubs. We understand and respect Vandrezzer’s decision to discontinue the game and we wish them success,” Tade added. 

The Lagos Derby billed for the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere will have top brass of the Nigerian football family in attendance as Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) 1st Vice-President, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi will have the honour to perform ceremonial kickoff rituals, to herald the new NLO season.

Mohammed Akali, Chairman of the NLO, “Getting matches on television is relatively expensive. So one of the positive steps the NLO management took to ensuring games are shown live with a cost-effective budget was the launch of the NLO.TV App.

“The livestream of the Smart City versus Gbagada FC game on NLO.TV will it first this season, and this opens a new chapter on how we intend to use visual technology via an application to showcase our grassroot football to Nigerians, who are one of the highest data consumers and to a wilder audience, as the world is now a Global Village.

“Launched few months ago, during the Optima Energy NLO Super 8 Tourney in Ikenne was used as test run for the television and video viewing application.

“It was a success story as we recorded more than two million views on the NLO.TV App during the Super 8, with the final between Destiny Boys and Compos FC as the most viewed match, as it turned out to be an epic grand finale.

“Nevertheless, the NLO.TV app which is user friendly have also been upgraded to accommodate other features which was noticed during the test run.

“We hope to definitely sustain the livestream of subsequent matches on the NLO.TV App, as when clubs grassroot football becomes more appealing to Nigerians, it will drive small revenue as brand will place adverts on the App.”