Rangers, Pillars, eight others for Gold Cup pre-season tournament

The organisers of the off-season tourney reached out to the current NPFL champions, Masu Gida, and other teams from the leagues for a new package

The fourth edition of the annual Gold Cup pre-season tournament sees Nigerian Professional Football League champion Enugu Rangers, competition’s defending champion Kano Pillars and teams from the Nigeria National League and the Nationwide League One go head to head later this month.

Pillars lifted the silverware in the last edition after defeating Supreme Court FC of Abuja 2-1 in the final.

Alongside recent NPFL champions and the Kano based team, other participants are Lobi Stars, Remo Stars, MFM FC, Crown FC, Prime FC, Niger Tornadoes, FC Ebedei and ABS FC.

Speaking to media men, the General Coordinator of the event, Tunde Shamsudeen noted the holistic improvement in their fourth attempt at the pre-season competition.

“We’ve sent invitation letter to clubs, and we’re doing everything to ensure we make the tournament more glamorous with a cash prize for the winner, a giant trophy, and Gold and Silver medals. We’re talking to a philanthropist on sponsorship, the last edition was a huge success for us and all the participated teams,” Shamsudeen said.

“The media coverage and the support from the media was massive hence, we like to appreciate everyone who supported the project as we look forward to another remarkable pre-season event.

“The tournament will be of high level and is basically to ignite the spirit of the game and to also help the teams test their players before the league season proper,” he concluded.