21 football teams will begin hostilities today
as the third edition of the annual Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) and
LaLiga Promises Tournament kick-off today.
The U-15 tournament which is part of the NPFL and LaLiga’s drive
to the develop grassroots football in Nigeria has been designed to encourage
NPFL Clubs to set up and maintain youth structures.
The preliminary stages of the competition will be played across
Benin, Abuja, Kaduna and Enugu. The quarterfinals, semi-finals and the final
will then be hosted at the Agege stadium in Lagos from the 22nd – 28th
April, 2019.
Managing Director, LaLiga Nigeria, Javier del Río spoke about
the tournament in Nigeria and said “We are once again thrilled to have the
opportunity to develop young talents across Nigeria. We are committed to each
of our projects across Africa and hosting this tournament in Nigeria aims to
further show our commitment to the development of football in the country
through our longstanding partnership with the NPFL”.
Also speaking about the initiative, NFF 2nd Vice President and
LMC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko said “the U-15 promises tournament is very
impactful as some of the young talents have already started blossoming into
special footballers, three of the players from the 2017 edition are in the
current National U17 team, some are in the U20s as well and some have gotten
game time with their first team in the league this season.
We are committed to developing football from the grassroots as
we believe these kids will end up growing up to become representatives of
Nigeria in major tournaments in the future.”
The NPFL-LaLiga partnership was signed in 2016 and has since
recorded a number of exchange projects between the two leagues, including a
tour of Spain by an NPFL All-Star team, the opening of the LaLiga Nigeria
office in Abuja.
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