Organizers of the SPIRES 5-ASIDE Naija Street Soccer Tournament have announced the last 16 teams of the maiden event. The sixteen finalists were unveiled at a media Parley in Lagos on Wednesday.
The flagship Tournament commenced early this year with a series of activities that culminated in the Lagos Divisional Qualifying matches that saw over 40 matches. These cut across 5 divisions of Lagos, with more than 400 players participating. The divisional qualifiers produced the 16 finalists for the Main Tournament.
The teams are ASD FC, Angsored FA, All Saints FC, 2 Odds FC, Oladunjoye FA, Diamond FC, and De Potters FA. Others are Owibesebe FC, Super Angels, Pekins FC, The Alphas, Top Rock FC, Zions football club, White Togers, Yaweh FC, and VVD Football club.
The Tournament Director, Dr Bankole Allibay, said the Spires 5-Aside Football Tourney is designed to create a new standard in Youth empowerment, human capital development and fostering teamwork, physical fitness, and social inclusion at the community level.
“Our focus is to revive the culture of grassroots football development in the country, street soccer has produced great stars for Nigeria in the past and we hope to breed the next generation of superstars”
One of the high points of the Press Briefing in Lagos was the unveiling of popular On-Air personality Ezugwu Chukwudi, known as “Husband Material”, as the first Ambassador of the Spires 5-Aside Street Soccer Tournament.
The last 16 draw and the unveiling of future events for the flagship Tournament will be held on November 2nd, while hostilities kick off in the round of 16 on November 9th, 2024.