Football activities got underway last Tuesday as the on-going Airtel Rising Stars 2 entered the intra state stage in 17 states across the country. A total of 1,293 registered teams representing over 25,000 players are challenging for place at the state championships enroute zonal finals.
The 17 states include Ekiti, Osun, Oyo, Ogun, Kwara, Kano, Imo, Zamfara, Taraba, Plateau, Kebbi, Sokoto, Benue, Nassarawa, Niger, Katsina and Lagos. Others to follow suit are Ondo, Edo, Delta, Kogi, Anambra, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi, Rivers, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Kaduna and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
At the Lagos centre, 16 matches involving both male and female teams have so far been played. In some of the matches played at both Keke High School, Agege and Government Technical College, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Dairy Farm School defeated Alimosho High School by a lone goal, while Keke High School handed a two nil defeat to Ijaiye Ojokoro High School.
Sango Senior Secondary School defeated Nigerian Youth Soccer Academy (NYSA) via penalty while both Ifako Selected and Espero FC defeated Dazzle FC and Government Technical College, Agidingbi respectively also via penalty.
The intra state league is the first of the six stage activations of this year’s edition of the Airtel Rising Stars U-17 tournament. It will be followed respectively by state championships, zonal champions’ leagues, the national tournament, inter-country camp and national tour.
The Airtel Rising Stars U-17 Tourney, a unique pan African initiative of Airtel Africa, is designed to provide support for the development of football talents across her African markets. It aims at discovering talented students (male and female) of secondary school age and providing them the opportunity to gain football skills and develop into renowned stars.
