Guardian

IN its five seasons, the yearly under-13 football tournament is taking a large outlook with 12 states across the country joining the host– Lagos for the 2013 Channels National Kids’ Cup tournament.

States like Delta, Ogun, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna, Niger, Jigawa, Rivers and Edo will converge in Lagos for this year’s tournament taking place at Teslim Balogun Stadium.

Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Chairman/ Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Channels Television, John Momoh believes the championship would continue to grow, adding that this year would witness the participation of teams from 12 states that would join the four qualified teams from Lagos in the competition.

Momoh, who spoke passionately about the tournament, affirmed the company’s commitment to youth development, while charging the participants to embrace fair play during the championship.

“We are grateful to everybody that had supported and still backing the competition and we believe that each year, it will continue to grow. I want to emphasis that self-improvement is very vital and the students must also realise that taking part in the competition is not all about sports alone, but an avenue to develop.

“So I want them to know that to be well groomed, sports and academics must go together. It is not how you start but how you finish and ability to constantly overcome adversity and failure is what matter. So I want to charge the participants to give their best as it is all about team work,” Momoh said.

In his remarks, Chairman, Lagos State Football Association (LAFA), Seyi Akinwunmi lauded Channels for keeping faith with the tournament, while urging other corporate bodies to emulate the company.

The LSFA boss assured of their support to the competition, while promising to assist in keeping data of all the participants.

Explaining the rationale behind the selection of teams from the states, LSFA Vice Chairman, Tade Azeez said invitations were sent to the states and the 12 states were the ones that showed interest in taking part in the competition.

For the Lagos teams, he said over 44 teams registered for the Lagos qualifiers with four emerging as finalists.

Branded jerseys for the 12 teams were unveiled yesterday, while each participating team in this year’s tournament will get N100, 000 as appearance fee.

Series of awards will be doled out to outstanding teams and players during the final holding on May 27, while the final will be beamed live on Channels Television.  The competition has the support of Dufil Prima - makers of Indomie Noodles.