Former Super Eagles captain and 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold medalist, Nwankwo Kanu, has endorsed the Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi (ABL) FCT Football Tournament tagged the “Unity Championship” which will hold in Abuja from July 8 to 29.
The Arsenal legend who is also the global ambassador of the tournament charged FCT residents to come out in their numbers and support the competition which he said will help in discovery of talents who will bring honours and glory to the country in the future.
“I want to call on people in Abuja to come out and support these young lads during the duration of the tournament because I will be there as well,” the 1996 and 1999 African Player of the Year stated.
The three weeks football competition will feature 48 teams from across the six Area Councils in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to vie for the trophy and other mouthwatering prizes at stake with the champions and talents discovered embarking on an international scouting tournament according to the event organisers.
The chairman Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the competition, Mohammed Mo Mustapha said the organisers are working with the coaches across the Area Councils to discover talented and skillful players.
“We are working with the coaches at the grassroots and the Area Councils. Each Area Council will present eight teams at their levels after which two teams will qualify for the knockout stages from the six Area Councils. The 12 qualifying teams will now come to the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) for the second stage of the competition then to the quarter finals all through to the final. The emerging talents from the competition will be taken to international tour. Our scouting teams definitely will be on ground to identify the best legs regardless of which stage the team crash out. The talents discovered and the champions of the competition will be kept together for a certain period of time and they will then go for an international scouting tournament.”
The initiator and convener of the tournament, Benjamins-Laniyi, said the goal of the competition is to promote unity among Nigerians irrespective of their tribal, religious or political differences saying Nigeria is better together as one indivisible entity.
“It is my privilege to be the initiator in the Centre of Unity, the capital city of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to host, to convene, to engage a football tournament in the spirit of Unity Championship. When you work in unity, everyone becomes a champion.
“I believe each and everyone of us has a purpose defined by certain identified goals. The goal for me in this is that Nigeria needs a message, a unifying message particularly at such a time as this,” she said.
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