Grassroots football: Ogba Ijaiye FC wins 2022 Elephant Cup in Agege
Ogba Ijaiye Football Club has won the 2022/23 Elephant Cup, a five-a-side grassroots soccer tournament, organised for teams in Agege area of Lagos State.
The team defeated Mago FC 3-0 in the final of the tournament ,played at the Ashade Ogba Playing Ground on Monday,to emerge winner.
Ogba Ijaiye FC, along with 11 other teams, participated in the tournament ,which started on Oct.18 ,2022.
The victorious team had qualified for the knock-out stages of the tournament after emerging as best loser at the group stage .
Ogba Ijaiye FC was rewarded with cash prize of N500,000 for their effort, while the runner-up, Mago FC, was rewarded with N300,000.
In his post-match remarks, Mr Felix Ajanaku, Chairman of Elephant Cup, thanked God for the success of the league.
Ajanaku said that the football competition had been in existence for almost 22 years at the same venue, and had kept improving every year.
“I appreciate and thank all the teams that participated in the league from the beginning, for their sportsmanship and fair play attitude during the matches.
“The game went well and the players showed some level of maturity during the tournament.
“We also thanked the supporters and the spectators for their peaceful conduct and during and after the matches,” he said.
Speaking ,Mr Yinka Ogundimu, a lawmaker representing Agege Constituency 2 in the state House of Assembly, applauded the organisers,saying they had done well to have kept the tournament going for over 20 years .
“This is marvellous. The match is something we look forward to every year as it is way of gathering youths and taking them away from social vices.
“We are glad tournament attracted a lot of young people and also gave the youth the opportunity to showcase their football talents,” he said.
The lawmaker also advised youths to shun violence during and after the general elections ,urging them to keep themselves by acquiring skills for self reliance.
Mr Rotimi Odusola, the representative of Guinness Nigeria ,one of the sponsors of the tournament, said that the grassroots competition was a great initiative .
He said his organisation would do more in the coming year,to further lift the competition.
Odusola said the organisation was pleased to give support to the grassroots football competition and the host community.
“This is a fantastic competition.We , Guinness Nigeria ,are very pleased to give our support to the competition and the community.
“This is one of the things that we reckon with as an organisation, empowering and engaging the youths as we all know that football is a fantastic engagement opportunity.
“That’s why we are encouraging Elephant Club to continue this event and we will continue to give our support as we are doing today.
Mr Fabian Etuk, the representative of COLMAT, another sponsor,said that he was highly impressed with the grassroots competition.
He promised that that his organisation would continue to support the tournament.
“We thank the organisers of the competition. Elephant Club is a great grassroots tourney.It gives young people the opportunity to showcase their skills.
“Our organisation will not hesitate to support the grassroots competition next year,” he said.(NAN)