The 2022 Merrybet 5Stars Premier League has berthed in Lagos as the organisers seek to discover more grassroots talents in a bid to develop Nigeria’s football.
In a press conference held over the weekend, the NFF’s first Vice President, Mr Seyi Akinwummi represented by Mr Dotun Coker, the Technical Director of Lagos Football Association said talents discovered will be invited to the state teams ahead of national competitions.
“We are going to see more talents in Lagos and we have seen faces that are affiliated with them. Definitely we deploy our coaches to hunt for talents and they know what to do with them.
“So this season, we have the U-15 national youth games coming up, the national sports festival, we will invite the talents discovered to the state teams,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer of 5 Star Consultancy and the manager of the league, Olumide Oturu said the league seeks to develop football in Nigeria.
“This is the opportunity to harness the talents and help improve the structure of our football in Nigeria. If we have talents from the grassroots, it helps to develop the other tiers of football like the NLO, NNL and NPFL in the long run and spark a whole of development,” he said.
The league is set to accommodate 20 teams spread across two conferences – Mainland and Island – with the top 4 teams from each conference facing off in the knock-out phase for the right to challenge for the National title against Northern region winners 12 Strong FC of Abuja in Ibadan on October 1st Independence Day.
All is set for next weekend’s grand opening match between Snowlions Fc up against Mandarin Fc on August 13th at Meadow Hall Lekki Phase 1 which will herald an exciting 7 weeks of futsal football at the center of excellence.
