Airtel offers $100 per goal scored at ARS3 national championship

Leading telecommunications operator and organizer of the annual Airtel
Rising Stars U-17 Tournament has announced a goal-for-education
incentive during the forthcoming national championship.
The company is offering $100 for every goal scored during match
regulation time at the championship.
At the end of the championship, a participating team will receive the
aggregated monetary value for the number of goals it scored during
regular match time, with the liberty to choose which charity in home
state or zone gets the donation.
The Goal-for-Education initiative is aimed at furthering the company’s
CSR spread while enhancing the quality of living among the less
privileged across its African markets.
Speaking about the initiative, the Director of Corporate Communication
and CSR, Airtel Nigeria, Emeka Oparah, said it is one of the tie-back
benefits of the Airtel Rising Stars Tournament, which focuses on
discovering talented football youngsters and giving them opportunities
to hone their skills and become renowned stars.
Oparah’s word: “Our CSR goal is primarily targeted at helping the less
privileged using every credible platform such as the ARS provides.
“We believe the goal-for-education, being a CSR-initiative, will
further boost our efforts at achieving improved living conditions for
this set of people among us.
“We are promoting a culture of integration that allows the players to
live for others, using their talents.
“We also hope it will motivate the young boys and girls to produce for
all lovers of the game the best of grassroots football for which the
ARS is known.”
Meanwhile, 192 players comprising 12 male and female teams drawn from
six zones across the nation will be featuring at the national
championship where they will attempt to beat one another to the crowns
and the tickets to participate in the week-long African championship
slated also for Lagos later in September.
The teams qualified for the three-day championship after featuring in
the zonal championship phase where they had to see off strong
competition for the national finals tickets from other equally good
teams in their zones.
They include Kaduna, Abuja, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Ibadan and Lagos,
all of which will be featuring both in the male and female categories.
The Lagos National Championship will be decided inside the main bowl
of the Agege Township Stadium, which also hosted it last year.
Aside determining the national champions, the championship will double
as a qualifier for the ARS inter-country championship slated for Lagos
next month.
The Airtel Rising Stars U-17 Tourney, in its third year running, is a
pan-African initiative of Airtel Africa, designed to provide support
for the development of football talents across African markets.
It is aimed at discovering talented students (male and female) of
secondary school age and providing them the opportunity to polish
their football skills and develop into renowned stars.
As part of the tournament, top teams from 17 African countries will
compete against each other for the title of Airtel Rising Stars
African Champion, scheduled for Nigeria in September