By Abdallah el-Kurebe, Editor
First Bank Football Club has emerged winners of the 2014 edition of the All Financial Institutions Football Competition (AFIFC).
The team defeated defending champions, the CBN Football Club by a 1-0 score in a game decided at the Ilorin Township Stadium, Kwara State on Saturday.
The goal scored in the 67th minute of the game by Gafaru Lasisi was all that made the difference in a pulsating encounter between both teams.
Speaking at the event, the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele commended all the teams that participated in the competition and stressed that the tournament was one of the Bank’s foremost and oldest Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) functions.
Represented by the Director, Human Resources Department, CBN, Ms. Chizoba Mojekwu, Mr. Emefiele reiterated the Bank’s commitment to make positive contributions towards the promotion and development of football in the country.
Lauding the increase in the number of financial institutions that registered in this year’s competition, he urged other institutions that were yet to register their presence in the competition to encourage their teams to register for the next year’s edition.
Emefiele also thanked the Kwara state government for making the stadium available and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) for mobilizing financial institutions and ensuring a hitch-free competition.
He further acknowledged the contribution of the media and all the football fans for their excellent conduct during the competition.
The final match was preceded by the third place play-off between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) FC and the Ikeja Microfinance Bank FC, which ended 3-1 in favour of SEC through penalty shoot-out after the match ended goalless at regulation time.
This year’s winner went home with N2 million while the runners up and third placed teams received N 1.5 million and N1 million, respectively.
The fourth placed team received N500,000.
In attendance at the finals were the former Head Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi, representatives of Kwara state government, officials of NFF, ex-Internationals, Abdulwahab Shola Akinwale and Wasiu Ipaye.
Others were the Branch Controller and staff of Ilorin Branch; CBN executives and staff; Sports lovers; students from various schools in Ilorin; and the musical troupe of the Kwara State Government, which added colour to the event.
