Organisers name Kanu, Asare as judges

A former Super Eagles skipper Nwankwo Kanu, is among the three judges to officiate the final of the first ever National Freestyle Football Championship in Nigeria slated for July 23 at the Car park of the Ikeja City Mall.

The event being staged by Feet ‘n’ Tricks International Limited has GAC Motors, a product of Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor Company Limited and the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) as major sponsors.
He was an active member of the Super Eagles from 1994 to 2010, and eventually went on to captain the Senior National team of Nigeria. He has since retired from playing football.

Kanu was a member of the Nigeria’s team that won gold at the Atlanta Olympic Games. In 1993, after a notable performance at the U-17 World Championships, he was signed by Dutch Eredivisie AFC Ajax. He made his debut a year after and scored 25 goals in 54 appearances.

A former European Champion, Daniel Mikolaj, who has consistently positioned himself as one of the Top 8 freestyle football athletes in the world in the past five years, is the head of the judges.
Another African, Joel Asare, who is a two-time Ghanaian champion, will also be one of the judges. Asare represented Ghana in Tokyo, Japan at the Red Bull Street world finals 2013.
The CEO of Feet n Tricks, O’dyke Nzewi, said all arrangements have been concluded to stage a remarkable show on Sunday in Lagos

All is set for Copa Rayados as Midas seal Another milestone deal in Greece

 

The Participation of Midas football academy at the upcoming Copa Royados,houston texas,received a boost as the management of Midas football consult,the owners of midas football academy has secure a partnership aggrement with a top sports management firm in Olympiacos greece.

The memorandum of understanding which was signed between the management of the companies will ensure exchange programs between the two firms,ranging from kits,equipments,facilities and personnel as well as ease trans -border travelling logistics

The deal will afford Midas football Academy players an opportunity to take their growth and development of their to Europe where the chances of realising their dream of becoming a professional footballer. 

According to the CEO of midas football consult,Bayonle Arashi,the agreement is a reflection of the hard work put into the job by the management and the quest to give the best of exposure for the students of the academy is the motivating favor that will always spurs us to go a mile extra.

In his words "The deal is a reflection of hardwork put into the job and the fact that we want to see more of our players transfer from the academy direct to European clubs makes us to go the extra mile in making the agreement a reality".

The Astute football Administrator also posited that the deal is a consolidation on the visits of Premier League Africa to Midas football Academy camp in Lagos earlier in the year and call on parents to enroll their talented ward in the academy as the academy have what it's take to develop and expose their talent.

 

 "The best time to be part us is now and am calling parents to Register their ward now and make the maximum out of the opportunities that come with this new deal,as this is part of the gains of the Premier League Africa visit to our camp in Lagos earlier in the year". He told www.midasfootballacademy.com

Meanwhile the preparation for the Copa Royados is going on smoothly as the necessary documentations and confirmation of players are on going,the good news is that the window to be a part of the competition is still open interested players to be a part of the team.

  

I Love to Play for Arsenal... Alika

If you are looking for the next big thing in Nigeria football, since the exit of the magical skills of jayjay okocha and the intelligence of kanu Nwakwo,from the scene Look no further as we present to you Alika Daniel.

Alika as he is fondly called by his peers,combines the raw talent of Lionel mesi,the pentrating runs of Eden hazard and assertiveness of Luca modric,no wonder he loves to put the number 10 jersey,an exclusive reserve of legends.

He can play from the right wing and the left wing ,behind the striker or through the middle as his passes always come with the killer's instinct,  he Enjoys taking on defenders as well shooting the ball hard with precision if that is best option on the field of play.

His eyes for goals is legendary, he is as dangerous when backing the opponent's goal post as when he is facing it.

His penetrating runs is an asset which will take him far in this trade providence has chosen for it

He enjoys playing the ball on the ground no wonder he loves to play in the EPL for Arsenal fc.

" I love to play for Arsenal because of the way they use the ball on the ground and the fact that it's a good platform that gives talented youthful player an opportunity to grow and achieve their potential.

He has this to say about Midas football academy,just after 6 months he joined

"The academy has really help my Game a whole lot especially in the act of goal scoring and it has really helped my confidence on the ball and I also want to appreciate good job of the management "

No wonder he always love to explore on the field of play and never hesitate to unleash his tricks each time the opportunity present itself,this is evident in the goal he scored against the COD of lagos,he benefited from a loose 25 yard from the goal post and he fires a well measured lob over the goalkeeper to the delight of spectators and this provoke applause even from the opposing team.

"I have scored some beautiful in the past but the one against COD was my favorite because it's a deliberate lob to measure the height of the goalkeeper when i saw that he is off his line already,
i watched with the ball going in, with delight ,as the goalie tried to lift himself to parry the ball the ball keeps  rising until it founds the back of the net.

According to his coach, he is the working type, 'he gives his best in training and put his best effort in games,he is player you can trust with the ball ,coach Emeka Njoku opined ,and his team mates always look up to to get the job done he concluded.

The 18 year old cool,calm ,collected footballer who hates not to score after 90 minutes on the pitch shares his secret for success with www.midasfootballacademy.com 'I always work hard in training and look onto God for favor on match days and he has never disappointed me" .

Stephen Keshi 1962-2016 : Reward for Our Heroes past in Sports

FROM HON. GODFREY GAYA

Exactly this day in 2016, a greatNigerian sports man passed on to the great beyond. Stephen OkochukwuKeshi died in Benin, Edo state at the unripe age of 54. Keshi was a phenomenon. He recorded many ‘firsts’ in his chosen career as a footballer. Right from his days at St. Gregory in Lagos, Keshi was a distinguished footballer. He was the captain of his school. He led the school severally to win the Principals cup in Lagos. It was the most competitive football even amongst secondary school in those days in Lagos and provided able opportunities for young talents to be discovered for stardom. No wonder, Keshiand his co-travellers then easily found their ways to major clubs in Lagos those days. Clubs like Stationary Stores, ACB, NEPA Football Club all of which were in Lagos made the Principal Cup competition a hunting trip found the advent of Stephen Keshi and teammates in the late 70’s and early 80’s.
Expectedly, Keshi was a trailblazer. He became a successful footballer within the shores of Nigeria. Was the first to leave the shores of Nigeria to play outside. He moved to Ivory Coast to play professionally there.He left there for Belgium to also become the first of his generation to play in Europe from Africa. He was the Nigeriannational football team captain for 10 years. He was then till date the longest serving captain of The Eagles and he’s arguably the most successful. For during his reign as captain, Nigeria won the 1994 Nations cup in Tunisia and qualified to world cup for the first in the USA also in 1994. It was during his reign as captain that Nigeria was the most highly rated African team in the world. During that period, Nigeria rose to the fifth ranked team in the world, a record that no African team has beaten. Due to Keshi’s leadership attributes and the respect he commanded from his team mates and officials, Keshi was simply revered to as ‘The Boss’. After his glorious football playing days, Keshi took steps into football coaching. A profession he left an indelible mark. He succeeded in Togo, taking them to the pinnacle of football by their qualification to the world cup in 2006. As the true patriot Keshi was he desired to come home and serve his fatherland. He was by popular demand named the coach of the Super Eagles in 2012. Heel made no joke of this by qualifying Nigeria to the edition of the AFCON in South Africa, 2013. There again, The Boss made history by winning the AFCON the second time for Nigeria and becoming the first Nigerian to win the AFCON championship both on the captain and also as the coach. Keshi died this day in 2016, serving Nigeria. At the announcement of his death, the present Minister of Sports and Youth Development announced to mourning Nigerians that Keshi was a“government property” and that all will be done by the government of the day to immortalize Stephen Keshi. In fact in his word he vowed that his government will never forget the contribution of Keshito National growth and will do everything possible to reward his labour of love and services to the Fatherland. Shockingly days after the declaration by the minister, Keshi’s  burial was funded fully by his family and friends while person from the federal government deemed it fit to attend, not even the minister of Sports and Youth Development despite his clearly advertised utterances immediately after Keshi’sdeath.Keshi was left alone even before his final laying to rest in his grave. Similarly in the same month, same city, coach ShuaibuAhmadu also passed on. Ahmadulike Keshi served his country meritoriously winning laurels and Applause for the super Eagles. Ahmadu was called upon several times on a salvagemissionfor Nigerian football and like Keshi died for Nigeria and was denied by Nigeria.
I have chosen to use only Keshi and Ahmadu’sexamples because this write-up makes the first remembrance anniversary, looking back before them several Nigerian Sports men and women have severally being abandoned by the government after toiling and making sacrifices for Nigeria. It is the word of the Holy books that command that the labourer deservetheir wages. This divine injunction is hardly respected in Nigeria particularly to sports men and women. The number of Nigerian Sports persons that have died and have been forgotten these are too numerous for this write-up to list. The irony is the fact that’s our ‘anthem’ on the ‘pledge’ are the ‘oaths’we make every day. The words captured there are supposed to be sacrosanct. Words that should not be confused for whatever reason. Unfortunately here we say everyday in our anthem that “ the labour of all heroes past shall  never be in vain!” For me these are mere high-sounding words full of sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing. In these times oaths are not respected by government. Here governments don’t keep promises. They fail you the moment you are no longer in position to defend yourselfmuch less of being dead.Once you are six feet under only your immediate family remember you. Pan here’s are forgotten, their families are left at the mercies of kind hearted individuals while government suddenly takes cover and your sacrificial contributions to your National are not remembered nor appreciated.
The neglect of our past Sports Heroes is imparting a negative toll on the youths of this country. The younger ones have noticed with dismay and disappointment the lack of honour afforded to our fallen Sports Heroes. It is therefore not surprising that there are many Nigerian youths outside the shores of this country who do not wish to associate with Nigeria. The fact that they have full Nigerian blood in them nor withstanding. They would rather opt to wear the colours of other nations who they believe will immortalize them after their playing days are over. In their present England U-20 team at the FIFA youth World Cup hostedby South Korea,parades six “Nigerians” in the England team of 23 players. It is sad that these young promising lads have chosen to adore the colours of England because they have lost faith in the ability of their fatherland to recognise them thereafter. This drift is there in athletics, basketball and all major sporting events.
Lagos and Rivers state both celebrated 50 years of statehood within the federation called Nigeria. I carefully looked into the list of “sons and daughters” honoured for their immense contribution and state development by these states and was utterly embarrassed to not even witness even a single name associated with sports, I used to think that Teslian Thunder Balogun a moniker associated with sports heroism was a Lagosian.

Pitch Maintenance in Nigeria : Matters Arising by Sheu Dikko

Sheu Dikko,the hardworking Chairman of the League Management Company the body that is responsible for the organization of the Nigeria Professional Football League ,NPFL,bare his mind on the maintenance of pitches across the various  NPFL stadia.

The Nigeria Football Federation 2nd vice president deposited his thought on the subject in the Nigeria Football Support Platform, NFSP, a whatsaap group dedicated to matters as they affect the game of Football in Nigeria.

Olusola Adebayo,hereby present the excerpt :

Indeed, I always believe that maintaining our pitches and indeed stadiums has to be done in the most professional way and must be handled by professional firms that are paid only on successful delivery rather than in most cases handled by employees whom do get their salaries and allowances regardless of weather they do the job well or not. This believe arrises from a personal experience I had around 2001 or so when I used to promote a team in Kaduna - Kaduna Professionals and we were to play a match at the ABS and the pitch was not good. So I brought money to get the pitch fixed and instead of getting a thank you from the man in charge of the pitch I got insults that I got involved with his job and he has already requested for money from Abuja to fix the pitch and now the money might not come. The issue here is that the man actually allowed the pitch to messed up so he can get a budget approved to fix it... this thinking is still the major problem with our pitches as most of those in charge don't care and only wants budget for repair. So the way forward on this is to think out of the box and face a new direction.

Indeed, one of the major take always from our recent visit and technical agreement with the Morrocan Football authorities is that we were able to see what they do to keep their pitches always top notch and in top shape across the country and we would be working to deploy the same system here.

1. Firstly in Morocco they had set up private companies that specialized in only the construction, installation, refurbishment and maintenance of football pitches (and some Golf pitches).

2. The companies work with Government at all levels and the football authorities to maintain the football pitches across the county from the top division to even the amateur teams...

3. For construction and or refurbishment of pitches the money for this is sourced through the Government (ministries of interior, youth, sports, works and finance all support the project) and when the pitches are installed they come with a 5 year maintenance contract (and they are maintained 24/7).

4. The football authorities also secure sponsors and partners as well as development funds to pay for the maintenance of pitches for professional clubs and some amateur pitches... the professional clubs pitches are almost all grass and or a mixture of grass and synthetic as we have in some top European clubs while the amateur pitches are mostly synthetic (but the top grade ones).

5. Through this model the Moroccan football industry has succeeded in ensuring their pitches are always in good shape and has created huge job opportunities across the country with thousands of people employed by this specialist companies working to keep their pitches in top shape. Indeed Morroco started this program since 1986 and everything is sourced in Morocco from the grass to the expertise (as they have trained expertise across across board and have developed perfect seedlings that suite their environment). So everything is 100% Moroccon. They even go to Europe to install pitches...

5. Accordingly, we have had a meeting with the best company in Morocco working for the FA and the Ministry of sport and handling over 150 pitches across Morocco including all the top pitches were the national team and the top clubs play and have agreed with them to come to Nigeria and set up so we can see how to create this type of specialist Industry in Nigeria to ensure the professional installation and maintenance of atleast the key football pitches available in nigeria for a start (both grass and synthetic). They would go round the country and evaluate the pitches and make recommendations and we take it from there. They would also work to set up units across the country that would be trained accordingly.

6. We intend to find the money for this project through a combination of the owners of the stadiums (which are mostly government) and finding some sponsors to support the project especially in the long term maintenance contracts. Maintenance is the key to the success of this project and thus must be funded correctly.

7. Hopefully, if this project works we would solve this problem once and for all.

8. Indeed, the CEO of this best football pitch construction  and maintenance company in Morocco we met with  is a woman and even the stadium manager of their national stadium in Rabat is also a woman and they are absolutely on top of their game.. this clearly shows his institutionalized the specialist pitch maintenance program has reached in Morocco and how far they have come.. it's really a delight to see this really...

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT: SOUTH WEST STATES FOOTBALL FORUM TAKES GIANT STEP AS OONI OF IFE UNVEILS OODUA YOUTH LEAGUE TROPHY IN STYLE........

It was all fun at the Palace of the Ooni of Ife Kingdom as the South West States Football Forum blaze the trail and rolled out plans to take football development in the region to the next level.

The highly colourful ceremony  which was hosted by the Ooni of Ife Kingdom, His Imperial Majesty, Oba Adeyeye Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja ll had in attendance top sports (football)  administrators, coaches, former internationals, and stakeholders from across the country, especially from the South West States.

Speaking at the event, Former Secretary General of the Nigeria Football Federation who doubles as the Chairman of the Osun State Football Association, Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi said the idea of having a common front in the area of football development in the South West was raised by the Ooni of Ife Kingdom, Oba Adeyeye Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja ll.

Former National team Coach, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, who spoke on the gains ahead called for total commitments.

Former Board Member of the Nigeria Football Federation who is also a Member the House of Representatives, Alhaja Ayo Omidiran stressed the importance of women involvement.

The 1st Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation who is also the Chairman of the Lagos State Football Association, Barrister Seyi Akinwumi stressed the need for genuine love and unity among people from the region.

The Chairman of the Ondo State Football Association who is also a Board Member of the Nigeria Football Federation, Otunba  Dele Ajayi while thanking God and all the stakeholders for making the event a huge success, said all hands are on deck as the region targets lasting legacies.

High point of the event was the UNVEILING of the OODUA YOUTH LEAGUE TROPHY by His Imperial Majesty, the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Babatunde Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja ll.

The Royal Father who could not hide his joy and happiness commended the organisers of the event saying it will go a long way in bringing back the lost glory of the region in the world of football as well as foster strong unity and love.

Oba Ogunwusi who called on all sons and daughters of the Yoruba race and the country at large to live in harmony at all times, warned against hypocrisy and backbiting.

The Traditional Ruler who expressed his absolute support for the project to take football development to the next level in the region UNVEILED the OODUA YOUTH LEAGUE TROPHY to the GLORY of GOD and the BENEFITS of MANKIND.

The State of Osun (Osun State) was announced as the 1st beneficiary of the NFF secretariats to be built in all states of the federation just as the former Chairman of the Ondo State Football Agency, Mr Akin Akinbobola emerged as the Coordinating Secretary of the South West States Football Forum.

Members of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club led by its President General, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo were on hand to entertain the crowd and add glamour to the event.

The South West States Football Forum led by Chairmen of each state football association is poised to take football development in the region to the next level with programmes which include the OODUA YOUTH LEAGUE, WOMEN'S LEAGUE and the WORLD CUP amongst others.

The immediate past Chairman of the Ondo State Football Agency, Prince Dapo Ajibade who commended the initiative expressed his beliefs that all the dreams will come true.

The General Manager of Shooting Stars Sports Club,  Rasheed Sodiya Balogun said the move has placed the region above others in terms of vision for development.

The event also had in attendance President of the Nigeria Football Referees Association, Chief Tade Azeez, President of the Nigeria Women League, Aisha Falode, Board Member of the Nigeria Women League, Kemi Adesanya, former board member of the NFA, Elder Dickson Adejube, immediate past Commissioner for Youth Development and Sports in Ondo State, Dayo Awude and former Chairman of the Ondo State Football Association, Dele Ogungbemi, former Green Eagles and Super Eagles players, Felix Owolabi and Mutiu Adepoju to mention only but few.

No doubt, this positive move to take football development to the next level in the South Western States of Nigeria will open more doors of good things to come now and the nearest future.

Akwa United Extend Unbeaten Run ___Play Goalless with MFM in Lagos

Ten man Akwa United extended their unbeaten run in the Nigeria Professional Football League NPFL to four matches after playing a goalless draw with Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries MFM at the Agege stadium in Lagos on Sunday.

Stephen Odey failed to increase his goal tally when he missed a penalty in the 33rd minute after Kodjovi Dadzie handled the ball inside the box.

Aremu Afeez was sent off in the 86th minute of the game after a second yellow card following a late tackle.

The matchday 20 fixture was a reverse of the last match of the first stanza in which Akwa United won MFM in Uyo last month.

Akwa United's new signings Ojo Olorunleke, Harmony Ikande and Gabriel Okechukwu all made their debut in the match but the top scorers in the league, Stephen Odey of MFM and Alhassan Ibrahim of Akwa United caught fan's attention.

MFM needed a win to return to the top of the league while the Promise Keepers were targeting victory to break into the top four but the two teams could not find a way pass each other's defense despite a spirited performance.

Ifeani Ifeanyi and Aremu Afeez who dominated the midfield battle were both booked and the duo will miss Akwa United's home game against ABS of Ilorin.

Sikiru Olatunbosun, Stephen Odey and Adegboyega Adekunle all had chances to score for the home side but their efforts were well saved by Olo Olorunleke who had a wonderful game on his debut.

Coach Abdu Maikaba's team also had opportunity of their own Harmony Ikande, Gabriel Okechukwu and Alhassan Ibrahim were guilty on many occasions.

In the end a goalless draw was a fair result for both sides. With the result, MFM moved to 34 points while Akwa United have 30 points from 20 matches and occupy 6th position on the table.

Akwa United will next play ABS of Ilorin at the Nest of Champions in Uyo.