Lagos Community Football Shield organisers to work with South African academy

Organisers of the 2022 Lagos Community Football Shield Championship have unveiled 21 outstanding footballers, who were discovered last year from the grassroots tournament.

According to the convener of the Community Shield Championship, Olanrewaju Saidi, who is also a board member of the Lagos State Sports Commission, the 21 players selected from the grassroots tourney were drawn out of 20 Local Government areas of Lagos State. He hinted that the players represented 40 community teams, with over 650 players from various local governments in last year’s championship.

Saidi declared that it was imperative to unveil the aspiring young footballers to the public for adoption by corporate and other well-meaning Nigerians.

He explained that the target of his programme, apart from discovering and nurturing football talents from the grassroots, is also to encourage youths acquire education and learn good values that will make them worthy ambassadors of the country in future.

Saidi also added that he had over the years seek collaboration with a South African football academy to pick talents discovered in his football developmental project to further expand their skills.

He pleaded with stakeholders and other agencies in football to rally round and support the Lagos Community Shield football tournament.

“The Lagos Community Shield is a football developmental programme organised to discover young talents in soccer from age 16 to 17 years. We unveiled the players to show the world that Nigeria have quality aspiring young players that can be adopted from the grassroots. We need sponsors and any interested organisation or individual to assist nurture the players to stardom,” he stated.

He continued: “We are currently working with South Africa academy to assist groom some of the players. My desires is to continue discovering talents for the country as we plan to host another edition of the Lagos Community Shield this year.”