UNIPORT Hosts Universities’ Football League

The opening match of the first edition of Higher Institutions Football League (HIFL) took place last Wednesday, at University of Port Harcourt’s school football field.
Speaking at the pre-match briefing before the opening game between Sharks of UNIPORT and Titans of DELSU, the representative of Pace Sports Marketing and Entertainment Limited, Patrict Nwaoze said the aim of the football league is to promote and develop sports, most especially football in Nigerian universities.
According to him, in recent times, sports in the universities is gradually going down, that the introduction of the football league would help discover talents and awaken the spirit of sports in the students.
“Our aim is basically to promote and develop sports in our universities, most especially to discover football talents that can represent the country at any level, “he said.
Also, speaking, Director of Sports, Delta State University (DELSU), Actugbue Tony, said the league was designed to unify students and also to showcase talents in universities campuses across the country.
He noted that 16 top Nigerian universities are participating in the first edition from the National Universities Games Association (NUGA), adding that HIFL is different from NUGA, because the league is annually, while NUGA is bi annual.
The sports director explained that the league would be divided into two sections, Northern and Southern Coast that 30 matches would be played in 14 weeks and finals would be played at the Telsim Balogun Stadium, in Lagos.
At the end of the encounter, UNIPORT beat hard fighting DELSU 3-2

Tonye Orabere