Coaches of Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) clubs and those from other cadres of the league were on Thursday presented with certificates of participation to climax the annual NPFL-LaLiga U-15 coaches workshop at the Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne, Ogun State.
It’s the seventh year of the annual tournament; a collaboration of the NPFL and LaLiga, which the Head of Operations of the Interim Management Committee (IMC), Davidson Owumi described as “a platform to discover and nurture tomorrow’s Professional Football players today”.
Represented by the Head of Media Communications, Harry Iwuala, the IMC reiterated its commitment to supporting the NPFL clubs to build a succession line for players.
“LaLiga and the NPFL began this collaboration seven years ago and the support of telecommunications giant, MTN and the fastest growing air travel industry operator, Value Jets is ample validation that the project has an enduring value”, Iwuala stated.
Chairman of Remo Stars and hosts for the tournament, Kunle Soname harped on the importance of developing sports facilities in the country, pointing out that, “youth development is not just playing on the pitch, it includes the experience of these young ones leaving their environments for the very first time to come to Ikenne.
“This travel forms part of their development, it is a dream come true for most of them and it is hereby advocated that we should have facilities such as this in other places in the country”, Soname submitted in his address at the certificate presentation and media conference for the start of the 2023 NPFL-LaLiga U-15 Promises tournament.
Dignitaries at the event included former Super Eagles midfielder and LaLiga Ambassador, Mutiu Adepoju; Executive Board member of the Nigeria Football Federation, Ganiyu Majekudimi; and representative of MTN Nigeria, Njide Ken Odogwu.
The opening match of the tournament held after the ceremony with defending champion, Remo Stars taking on Lobi Stars.