Ughelli Set To Host Big National Under-20 Football Festival News

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Ughelli Set To Host Big National Under-20 Football Festival

By Daily Sports on October 3, 2019

Nigerian grassroots football players have been presented with another platform with which to express their talents and impress the right people that could offer them a pathway to professional football.

That platform is being offered by Ughelli, Delta State-based sports marketing company Excellent Sports, which is organising a huge football festival for male Under-20 football from across the country.

The Ughelli national football festival competition would take place at the Ughelli Township Stadium and the Ogor Tech football pitch both in the city of Ughelli.

According to tournament organiser Johnbul Onome of Excellent Sports, the tournament will attract rated football scouts from around the world and the best players from the competition would be selected for trials in a foreign country.

This is aside whopping cash prizes to be won by 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed teams of the competition.

The tournament is to kick off November 1 and end November 6.

Mr Onome informs that registration fee for the tournament is 40,000 naira which covers very comfortable accommodation in Ughelli.

Onome says: “The best 20 Overall players scouted from this tournament will travel to Cote d’Ivoire for an international scouting tournament with FC San Pendro in present of scouts and agents from France.”

Onome advises club coaches not to be too desperate about the cash prize involved in the tournament but rather to focus on allowing their players to play good football so they could be scouted and offered the chance of getting good professional contracts that, according to him, would be beneficial to the players and the coaches in the long run.

“This event is majorly for scouting good young players. When you look at winning prizes too much you may not get involved in some tournaments. Your players getting contract in Nigeria or Europe is the best, not winning prizes of competitions,” he says.

He also advises interested clubs to pay their registration money in full before traveling down to Ughelli as no half payment of registration fee would be allowed.

“Teams should be sure they have been properly registered before they come down to Ughelli. All participating clubs would be informed of their fixtures before they travel to Ughelli. I won’t advice any club to travel to Ughelli after the end of the registration period which is October 25 when they know they have not properly registered for the festival. I saw this during the recently ended late Stephen Keshi memorial cup in Asaba and it’s unfair for clubs to bring people’s children to a different state and city to waste their time,” Onome adds.

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