Pepsi Academy Honours Youngsters and Coaches at Gala Night

Pepsi Football Academy on Friday began the Festival of Youth 2014 with an inter-region football competition at Agege Stadium, Lagos. The event provides a right platform for the youngsters to showcase their talents. The Academy ended the festival with a Gala Night at Lagos Airport Hotel on Saturday and a number of players and coaches who participated in the tournament were rewarded.

On the pitch of play, players such as Thanksgod Nnoron, Zion Omoyofunmi, Adeniji Babatunde showed quality in their various teams.

 

 

In Thankgod Nnoron 16 year- old lad who played for the East comprising Aba, Owerri and Enugu training centres another Rashidi Yekinni is in the making. He is powerful and a ruthless finisher. So also is Zion Omoyofunmi who was a torn in the flesh of the defense of the team from the North during the final match between North and West 1. These players represent a bright future for Nigerian football.

Activities shifted to the legendry Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja on Saturday evening where the players and coaches were rewarded for their hardwork. The event attracted top guns in the sport sector including the Technical Director, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Shuaibu Amodu,  Ex- international, Dahiru Sadi amongst others.

 

The award for the Best Coach of the year was won by Mr. Baba Labaran who led the North teams to win both the U-14 and U-16 trophies at the tournament. The Most Valuable Players for the 3^rd Place Match for U-16 was won by Thankgod Nnoron from the East comprising Aba, Owerri and Enugu training centres.  Zion Omoyofunmi from the North went home with the Most Valuable Player for the final match for U-16.

 

 Junior James from the North emerged the Best Goalkeeper for U-14, while that of U-16 was won by Frank Ozodu also from the North. Samuel Adegbesan (West 11), Wale Ayodele(West 1) and Yakubu Baba (North) are Most Valuable Players at  Group Stage. Players, coaches of the Academy, parents and special guests coach Amodu Shaibu had fun. Debbie Rise who was the second runner-up in Nigerian Idol Season 3 entertained guests with a great music performance.

Commenting on the tournament, Mr. Iain Nelson, Consultant to Pepsi Football Academy said the essence of the event was to create motivation and provide a challenging platform for the Pepsi Academy lads to showcase their talents. He said:  “The challenge for these youngsters is to try and be selected from their centers to play at the regional level or represent the Academy at local and international competitions.”

 

Mr. Baba Labaran, Coordinator of Pepsi Football Academy Kaduna Centre, who led the North teams to win both the U-14 and U-16 trophies, expressed satisfaction with the performance of his teams. He said their success was a result of hard work and lots of training in the past 12 months. He said the team last year played in the final but lost by 1-0 which he said gingered them to go back and correct some of their mistakes.

 

Players for the competition for both U-14 and U-16 categories were drawn from all the Pepsi Academy training centers nationwide competing in four zonal format: North, East, West 1 and West 11.