THE Greek Consular General to Nigeria, Lykourgos Antonios Kaplanis, has visited the Ifeanyi Ubah-led Anambra State Football Association, which kicked off the Football Made in Anambra project with over 600 under-15 boys drawn from nine Local Government areas on Sunday.
The Local Governments represented were Njikoka, Awka North, Idemili North, Idemili South, Orumba South, Ayamelum, Anambra East, Anambra West and Anaocha.
The project, which is structured to unearth budding talents is billed to engage 50,000 children from 50,000 families and earmarked to produce at least in five Lionel Messis and five Cristiano Ronaldos in Anambra State within the next five years. The first batch of young boys from nine local governments were given the opportunity to display their God-given talents under the watchful eyes of Chief Mike Umeh, the former Chairman of the Anambra State Football Association and the chairmen of the various Local Government Football Councils present at the occasion.
Also on display to Greek Consular General was the multi-billion dollar Ifeanyi Ubah Games Village under construction as Dr Ubah took time to take him round the facility in a show of the management’s effort to promote and project sports as well as buttress the essence of meaningfully engaging the teeming youths of the state through active participation in sports culture and talent development.
In his remarks, the Chairman of Anambra State Football Association, Dr Ubah, thanked the Greek Consular General for finding the time and deeming it worthy to visit the facility domiciled in the industrial capital of the state. Dr Ubah stated that upon completion, the world-class structure cum facility will aid in the continuous harnessing of football talents for the youths in the state, hosting of national and international games as well as serve as a mammoth site for tourist attraction.
“I am very excited, having witnessed what these young boys can do with the ball. We will make sure that they continue to grow and above all, reach out to more children. My advice to them is to go home and engage themselves more with the footballs and kits we have provided for them.
“We believe that with the kind of investments we are making in football, we will produce the Ronaldos and Messis of the next generation. You can see that some of the kids already have their role models; some of them idolise Ronaldo, Messi, Didier Drogba, Mesut Ozil, Kanu Nwankwo and Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha. This shows their focus and the height of their aspirations at this tender age and with proper tutelage, their dreams would be realized,” Ubah said.
The youngsters also expressed their delight at being part of this novel initiative, noting that this has opened a whole new channel to them in a quest to replicate the successes of their idols. “I am very happy to be part of this programme; I want to thank Dr Ifeanyi Ubah for giving us this opportunity, especially for the footballs, the jersey, and the boots. I promise I won’t let him down,” Chidi Aghadi affirmed.
Highlights of the event were series of novelty football matches for the U-15 boys from the different local government areas present as Anambra East defeated Orumba South by a goal to nil, Njikoka lost to Anambra West 5-4 on penalties after a goalless affair in regulation time. Also, the FC IfeanyiUbah “Feeders team” took on the “Trial (Screening) Team” to add to the glamour of the event while some of the under-15 boys were gifted with N10, 000 for displaying a keen understanding of the game.
The second batch of boys from the remaining local governments will be on song in a forthnight as the Anambra State Football Association’s Football Made in Anambra gains further momentum.
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