…As 5th Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke football competition commences
A member of the House of Representative, Bamidele Salam, has called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the National Sports Commission to prioritize the development of grassroots football in the country.
Speaking at the kickoff of the fifth edition of the Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke Memorial Football Competition on Sunday at the Osogbo Township Stadium, Salam emphasized the importance of football as a sport, stating that “Football is the most passionate, the most interesting, the most participatory of the sporting events we have globally.”
The lawmaker noted that the competition would showcase the talents of young players, as it has done in the past editions.
“We should be expecting the usual energy and display of talents that we find in our young persons, especially from all the 30 local government areas of the state.”
“We should also expect that more new talents will be discovered in this fifth edition of the Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke Memorial Football competition.”
Advising the NFF, the lawmaker urged the football governing body in the country to focus more on developing grassroots talents by developing local football, and sponsoring players to attend football academies in Nigeria and around the world.
“I think what the National Sports Commission needs to do is to focus more on developing our grassroots football, local football,” he said.
Salam also cautioned that Nigeria should not lose its reputation in football, stating that ” in past years, Nigerian players are the most popular in Africa and some of the best in the world. But now, it’s our musicians. I’m not saying it’s not good as Davido, Wizkid and others are dominating the world, but we should not lose that which we originally have, which is a reputation that we have in football all over the world. The Commission should work towards reviving that area. It’s very important.”
He added that sponsoring players to attend football academies would help sharpen their skills and make them more globally competitive.
“There are a lot of football academies in the world, some football academies in Nigeria that we can sponsor people to go to and develop their talents,” he said.
The Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Competition, Oladele Bamiji, announced that the competition will run until January 15, 2025, which is the posthumous birthday of the late Isiaka Adeleke.
According to Bamiji, “we are excited to kick off this year’s competition today and this is the fifth edition of the contest.”
He explained that the competition will feature one from each of the local government areas and the knockout stage has commenced with a match between Orolu local government and Osogbo local government.
He said, “the final match is used to mark the posthumous birthday of the first civilian governor of Osun State, the late Otunba Isiaka Adetunji Adeleke.”
Bamiji also announced that the President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is expected to attend the finals, saying “by the grace of God, we will have the President of the NFF in attendance at the finals this year.”
At the end of the first game, Orolu local government triumphed over the Osogbo 5:4 on penalties after a pulsating 2:2 draw at the regular time.
In another encounter, the second team from the State capital, the Olorunda local government team were edged by the formidable team of Irepodun in a cracking encounter that ended one nil.
