By Daily Sports on February 12, 2016

Coaches of the Nigerian junior national teams and clubs have been tasked to leverage on the annual All Nigeria Secondary Schools Football Championship tagged NNPC/Shell Cup to scout for talents.

The External Relations Communications Manager, Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC), Mrs Sola Abulu, said at the 2016 NNPC/Shell Cup for Secondary Schools that available records prove that the competition has been a breeding ground for the discovery of abundant talents.

Abulu named the likes of Idowu Akinjide, Ejike Uzoenyi, Ajani Ibrahim, Eyimofe Joseph and Cletus Itodo, among others, who were products of the competition and have gone ahead to win laurels for Nigeria at various international championships.

“It may interest you to know that through the NNPC/Shell Cup many young footballers have been discovered and have moved on to represent the country in age group football competitions, graduated to the U23 team as well as the Super Eagles while many professional clubs in Nigeria and abroad have used the platform of the NNPC/Shell Cup to pick talents for their team.

“I therefore encourage coaches of the Nigerian junior national teams and indeed football clubs in the country to take advantage of this tournament to scout for talents,” said Abulu to supersport.com.

Abulu said a total sum of N8.2m will be won as prize money with the winners at the national finals going away with N3.5m, the runners-up will receive N2.3m while the third and fourth placed schools will go away with N1.3m and N1.1m respectively.

The state preliminaries hold from February 12-22 with the states final fixed for February 24 - March 2 while the zonal finals hold on April 11 -15 in nine centres, namely, Katsina, Minna, Jalingo, Ilorin, Uyo, Owerri, Ugheli, Osogbo and Akure.

Zonal finals winners will qualify for the quarterfinals which hold at Abeokuta, Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, from April 25-27 while the semifinals and the final will hold on April 29 - May 5 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. (supersport.com)

•Photo courtesy of News Express (newsexpressngr.com) shows, L-R; President, Nigeria Schools Sports Federation, Mallam Ibrahim Muhammad; Communications Manager, Shell Nigeria, Mrs. Sola Abulu; and former Super Eagles striker and CEO, Worldwide Sports, Chief Olusegun Odegbami, at a press conference to announce the commencement of the 2016 edition of the NNPC/Shell Cup, at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos... on Wednesday, February 10.

Source Daily Sports

Posted February 12, 2016

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