The Ooni of Ife, His Imperial Majesty Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II is set to host secondary schools football competition tagged “OjajaII Principal Cup” scheduled to begin early next year.
Ooni Ogunwusi made this known yesterday at his Palace while addressing the crew he has set up to facilitate this project. He said this was bourne out of his passion to develop grassroot football which is at a decline in the country “a pest that is sucking the national team dry of real talents that could boost the depth of the team”.
The soccer competition which will be played across the four Local Government Areas in Ile-Ife will have 16 teams participating in four groups and its expected to be a grooming platform for the young and upcoming high school footballers in the various secondary schools in the LGAs.
The Project Director, Akinola Martins while explaining more about the project said the aim of the group is to groom young talents and expose them to Western world where their talents can be seen and given a blend of class and Nigeria will eventually benefit from it. He said great stars abound in this country but they’re being wasted away because of lack of basic developmental infrastructures that can help them grow their talent and teach them the technical aspect of the round leather game which will propel them to the apex of the game
He said the likes of Messi and Ronaldo didn’t just attain the huge feat but they were groomed by the best and had the best facilities so this competition will open the doors to many young talents to be trained by the European best and Nigeria will be the beneficiary because we are going to build the future national team for this country. ” I believe Nigeria especially Ile-Ife can be produce the next Pele or better”.
The project’s Director of Media and Publicity, Lanre Aduroja said everything is in place to create awareness across the ancient city and beyond. He said this will ensure everyone gets the privilege to participate and showcase themselves without being held back in any way. He now call on corporate bodies and sponsors to join them in actualising this feat as this can become a national project that every state benefits from.
Other members of the crew include Adekunle David ( Assistant Project Director), Bankole Thomas (Technical Director) and Olasoji Olatunde (Project Coordinator)
The competition is set to take place in January across various secondary schools that qualify for the finals while the winner will be awarded a brand new team bus and cash prizes and other gifts for the runner ups.