Lagos hosts Africa’s biggest under-17 football tournament

From the weekend of September 13, the city of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, will be further enriched across board when the 16 teams that emerged champions in the Airtel Rising Stars U-17 Championship from various African countries begin to converge for a week-long display of football artistry and talents for which the continent is known.
The city will be hosting teams from Niger, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Congo DRC, Madagascar and Gabon in this year’s ARS African championship scheduled to hold between September 16 and 23, 2013 across four centres in the state.
The four match venues designated for the ARS African Tournament, the biggest in the continent, are the Agege Township Stadium, Agege; Onikan Stadium; National Institute of Sports pitch; and the Legacy Pitch, in the National Stadium, Surulere.
The opening and closing ceremonies as well as the final matches for both categories have been scheduled to take place at the Agege Township Stadium, Agege, while other group matches will be played at the three other centres.
As a key feature of the tournament, there will be a welcome dinner in honour of the participating teams and officials as well as draws for the match fixtures on September 15 while the tournament proper kicks off the following day with an opening ceremony.
The Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Hajia Zainab Maina, will lead the Federal Government’s delegation to declare the competition open.
Other international diplomats are expected to grace the event.
Also expected is Arsenal legend and former France international, Robert Emmanuel Pires, who is also part of the club’s technical and business staff to the ARS African Championship.
Pires is expected to enliven the atmosphere at the finals of the Airtel Under-17 Championship and stand as an inspiration to the youngsters vying for laurels in the final games.
The metropolitan city of Lagos is Nigeria’s most populous city with great followership of the round-leather game.
It has a sports loving Governor, Babatunde Fashola, who has invested much in developing sports infrastructure.
The ARS African championship is expected to attract millions of crowds to all the various centres in the state.
The city boasts of huge tourism potentials ranging from beaches to historical people and places such as Badagry, a town widely famed for its contributions to slave trade.
Aside the educative benefits, the state’s tourism potentials would enrich the living experience of the participating players and officials, most of whom are first time travellers out of their respective countries.
It would be recalled that the Lagos State Government has assured the organizers of its support and commitment to the Airtel Rising Stars African Championship.
Speaking during a recent visit by Airtel officials to his office at the Teslim Balogun Sporting Complex, Surulere, Lagos, the Lagos State Commissioner of Sports, Barrister Wahid Enitan-Oshodi, assured the organizers of the state’s commitment to the initiative, saying top officials of the government are ready to play host to the rest of Africa.
Enitan-Oshodi said: “The Airtel Rising Stars African Championship is an international event and we have committed to it.
“Airtel is an international brand, a good corporate citizen with strong governance structure and we will be there to provide the needed support for the international event.”
Meanwhile, the teams have started arriving Lagos for the week-long soccer fiesta, which will decide the 2013 ARS African Champion.
Currently, Niger Republic holds the 2012 Championship title for the male category, while Ghana is the defending champion in the female category.
Port Harcourt from the South Region will be flying the flag of Nigeria in both categories after it emerged victorious over other teams at the National Finals concluded a few weeks back.
They are coached by Joseph ‘Zico’ Egbu.
The Airtel Rising Stars U-17 soccer tournament is a unique pan-African initiative of Airtel Africa designed to create a pool of talents to feed the national football teams of African countries.