Ooni praises YSFON, donates trophy for Oodua Unity soccer tourney

The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has commended Youths Sports Federations of Nigeria (YSFON) for its role in searching for talents that will make the country proud in the round leather game.

The respected Yoruba monarch made this call while hosting the executive members of YSFON from South/West in his palace over the weekend, where he presented a trophy for a football competition tagged: Oodua Unity Cup. It will be played among youth clubs within South/West States.

The motive, according to Oba Ogunwusi, is to encourage grassroots soccer development in the country and support YSFON in its drive at discovering hidden soccer talents, especially within the south/west states. He said that he is always a supporter of any project that enhances capacity building of Nigerian youths.

“I must commend your body (YSFON) for helping in discovering young lads that are doing the country proud in football. Your efforts are quite commendable and that is why I’m going to support your efforts.

“While Africa has produced some of Europe’s biggest football stars in recent years, including Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, Ivory Coast’s Didier Drogba and Nigeria’s Kanu Nwankwo, I believe together we can channel a way to assist our youths through the game of football and produce more of these stars right from the grassroots.”

He continues: “I have already established a football academy in Ile-Ife through the Ojaja Principal Cup. We are doing it annually for secondary schools in Osun, and I know it shall be a model football academy in Nigeria. I was told by the director of the Ojaja Principal’s Cup, Akinola Martins, that the academy would play in NNL this season.”

The Vice President YSFON in the South/West, Rafiu Abayomi Alabi, who led the members to the Ooni’s palace, thanked the monarch for his huge support and love for football saying that the competition would be played in U-17 boys and U-18 girls respectively among states in the South/West, which comprises Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos and Ekiti.