States To Feature In Copa Coca-Cola Football

No fewer than 32 states
will feature in the 2016 edition of the Copa Coca Cola football event across the country.
Senior Brand Manager of the company, Gbolahan Sani, gave the figure at a news conference held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium on yesterday in Lagos.
Sani said that the aim was to enable more schools in the country to participate and benefit from the grassroots-oriented programme.
“The last edition of the programme in 2015 was held in 10 cities across the country, but this year, we have decided to take the competition to 32 states in Nigeria.
“With these 32 states, no fewer than 3,000 schools will be part of the event and we believe it will have positive impact on football at the grassroots,” he said.
Sani said the winner of the competition would receive N1million, while the second would receive N500, 000 and the third place winner would get N250, 000.
The brand manager said two outstanding participants at the event would attend the Copa international camp in France in July.
Also, Ibrahim Muhammed, President of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), commended the sponsor of the competition for promoting sport at the grassroots.
Muhammed said that the competition would continue to enhance unity among children from different cultural backgrounds.
“We are grateful to Coca Cola for their continuous support in developing and identifying young talents at the grassroots.
“We appeal to other corporate bodies to support sports at the grassroots,” he said.
Muhammed, however, urged the media to give the event more publicity in order to encourage participants.
“Instead of reporting about stars like Messi and Ronaldo always, let us support these young talents by reporting the event,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state preliminaries of the event would hold from April 7 to April 27 while the state final would hold on April 30.
The grand finale of the event would hold from May 29 to June 5 in Lagos.