The Babajide Olusola Sanwo olu Lagos Community Soccer Challenge Ikeja Division representatives emerged on Sunday after a 2 day football fiesta involving 32 teams spread across the Ikeja Division Football Association.
In group A where 16 teams competed, Buhari FC from Agege defeated another Agege side Basic FC 2-0 in a keenly contested match to pick the first ticket to the state finals of the BOS Cup 2019.
The Group B also contested by 16 teams had 2 Ikeja teams in the final qualifier with the United Striker snatching away victory against an enterprising WAO Community Development Association side 1 nil .
The United Striker side converted their only chance of the game against a wasteful WAO CDA who were no doubt most entertaining side in the division and that made them bookmakers favourite at the tourney but the United side had another plans snatching victory to pick the second ticket for the Ikeja division.
The 1st edition of BABAJIDE OLUSOLA SANWOOLU LAGOS COMMUNITY SOCCER CHALLENGE kicked off on Saturday at the Opebi primary school Astro turf.
Present at the ceremony were some BOS Independent Campaign Group directors led by Hon Toyin Gafaar the Director Sport Directorate who also represented the Director General of the Babajide Olusola Sanwo olu ICG Hon Tayo Ayinde.
Also at the tournament were members of BOS ICG Sport directorate which include table-tennis legend Bose Kaffo, ex-internationals like Segun Fetuga, Winners Golden Bet General manager Mr Deji Beecroft, Professional sport analysts. The chief central coordinator of Sanwoolu/Hamzat Foot-Soldiers Mayor Alani OKIKIOPOSU and some other party chieftains across the Ikeja division including lots of football fans (mostly youths) also grace the tournament’s kickoff.
During the press conference that precedes the kickoff the project Coordinator and Assistant Director Sanwo Olu ICG Tayo Aderinola stated that “the objectives of this tournament include the fostering of unity and the spirit of healthy competition between all the communities that make up Lagos State, to give our youths a positive avenue to channel their energy, discover hidden soccer talents by encouraging all Lagos communities to register their local teams free of charge and giving outstanding players the opportunity to promote themselves and take their career to the next level”.
He further noted “this year’s trophy, the BOS Cup, is dedicated to promoting the election mandate of Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu as the next governor of Lagos State. We believe that the continuity of APC governance in Lagos, through Sanwo-Olu is the best choice Lagosians can make at the polls and we are using soccer as a medium to sensitise the people of the gains of voting for Sanwo-Olu and encourage them vote wisely” Lagos Panorama Publisher emphasized.
“The theme of this competition is ‘FAIR PLAY Starts With You’. This is to emphasis the need for fairness and justice in all we do – on or off the pitch of play. Fairness in the play of soccer, fairness in officiating, fairness in our daily interactions one to another for it is on the foundation of fairness, justice and equity that we can build a truly progressive society”.
The competition draws 200 teams from all over Lagos and the matches are divided into 5 zones according to the 5 divisions of Lagos State, namely Ikeja, Badagry, Ikorodu, Lagos (Mainland & Island) and Epe. Ikeja, Badagry and Lagos zones will produce 2 finalists each while Epe and Ikorodu will produce 1 each. This is because the 3 former divisions are much larger and more populates than the latter 2. The 8 finalists will then slug it out at the Campos Mini Stadium to produce the champions. Every round of matches are ‘knock-out’ and as such, we can expect every match to be keenly contested.
In this tournament, standard 5-a-side rules apply and copies of the rules may be obtained from the Organisers or downloaded from www.lagospanorama.com.
The Badagry Football Division will be hosting the next qualifiers on Saturday.
