Picture 1: L-R Utham Ola Okunnu, Head Sports Competition, Lagos State Sports Commission, Jimmy Sogbesan, COO, Media Vision Ltd, Oyinade Adegite, Head of Communications & External Affairs, GTBank and Mrs Babs Akinyeye, Director Co-Curricular Services, Lagos State Min. of Education
The draws for the 2018 Principals Cup football competition held at the Corporate Head Office of Guaranty Trust Bank on Thursday 31st May 2018.
Picture 2: Secondary School Students participate in the Draws for the Group stages of Season 9 of the GTBank – Lagos State Principal’s Cup
The season began on April 17, 2018 with zonal preliminaries which featured 594 Teams from 335 Schools in the male and female categories. The competition is open to Schools from the 6 educational districts in Lagos State. A total of 586 matches were played during the zonal preliminaries with 1,448 goals scored. Thirty Two (32) of these teams 16 each from the two categories qualified to take part in Thursdays draws. The draws produced the following groups in the female and male categories respectively:
FEMALE TEAM GROUPINGS
GROUP A
GROUP B
GROUP C
GROUP D
Isale Eko Grammar School (2017 Champions)
Government Senior College, Agege
Ikotun Senior High School, Ikotun
CMS Girls Senior Secondary School, Bariga
Wesley Girls Senior High School, Yaba
Gbagada Senior Grammar School, Gbagada
Girls Senior High School, Agege
Ajeromi Ifelodun Senior High School, Ajegunle
Awori Senior College Ojo
King Ado High School, Lagos Island
Ijaiye Housing Estate Senior Secondary School, Ifako-Ijaiye
Okemagba High School, Epe
Ijeshatedo Senior Grammar School
Ilupeju Senior Secondary School, Ilupeju
Obele Community Senior High School, Randle
Elepe Community Senior High School, Ikorodu
MALE TEAM GROUPINGS
GROUP A
GROUP B
GROUP C
GROUP D
Ikotun Senior High School
Ijaiye Housing Estate Senior Grammer School, Ijaiye (2017 Champions)
Ejigbo Senior Grammar School, Ejigbo
Jubilee Senior Model College Orile Iganmu
Elepe Community Senior High School, Ikorodu
Egan Senior Grammar School, Alimosho
Baptist Senior High School, Obanikoro
St Finbarrs College, Akoka
Eko Boys High School, Mushin
Estate Senior Grammar School, Mushin
Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Agege
Government College Ketu, Epe
Government Senior College, Eric Moore
Ilado Community High School, Ikoyi
Ajangbadi Senior High School, Ojo
Kankon Senior Secondary School, Badagry
Preliminaries start on Wednesday 6th June and end on Monday 11th June 2018.
Matches will take place at 4 venues; Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Agege, Kings College, Lagos Island, St Finbarrs College, Akoka and Ansar-Ud-Deen College, Isolo.
Winners and runners up from each group will progress to the Quarter Final stage of the competition.
Thursdays draws which were monitored by officials of GTBank, Lagos State Principals Cup Planning Committee, Lagos State Ministries of Youth/Sports and Education amongst other stakeholders.
Over the years, the GTBank-Lagos State Principals Cup has propelled the professional careers of several talented and now renowned players like Stephen Odey who recently won the Swiss Cup with FC Zurich. Stephen captained his alma mata Dairy Farm Senior Secondary School, Agege to victory in the 2012 edition of the competition, Esther Adeboye, one of the Most Valuable Players in the 2014 Competition from State High School, Alimosho was part of the National Female U-17 Team, The Flamingoes which represented Nigeria at the FIFA U-17 Womens World Cup.
Guaranty Trust Bank, a youth oriented brand, maintains the lead in providing support for education and sports to enable young boys and girls explore their talents and reach for their dreams. It is one of the few Nigerian financial institutions that have maintained a defined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, most especially in sports education. The Bank actively supports in-classroom and out-of-classroom educational programmes, infrastructure development, students scholarship and teachers training across Africa.