Grassrunners JNR and Eko United open the African Football Holding (AFH) Pre-season Tournament in Sagamu on Thursday at 9 am., setting up an intriguing football contest.
The opening Matchday 1 fixtures of the tournament, tagged ‘Good Football, Great Futures’, will be held at FC Ebedei Stadium in Apele.
Sunshine Stars, FC Ebedei, Eko United, Dokkal Khairu, Grassrunners JNR, Crown FC,
Stormers SC, Ebedei Sports College, Grassrunners FC and Ikorodu City FA will compete in the 10-day event, running from October 15th to 24th.
The AFH pre-season tournament is for teams in the Nigeria National League (NNL) and Nationwide League One (NLO), giving them a chance to prepare adequately for the new season in their respective divisions.
Five hours later, FC Ebedei and Sunshine Stars will bring the MatchDay 1 Group A schedule to a close with a blockbuster clash.
Tunde Shamsudeen, lead of the AFH Pre-Season Tournament Organising Committee, said, “After more than a month of planning, the kickoff is a few hours away.
“The unique thing about the tourney is that all teams will get 360 minutes of football in total in the group phase to put their players through their paces and instil the tactical blueprint they want for their teams, before qualification to the final phase. This makes the tourney highly competitive.
“The eventual winner and runners-up of the maiden edition of the tourney will cart away a whopping N2m as prize money, while runners-up get N1m.
“There is also an Italian giant gold trophy for winners and medals for the two finalists.
“Top European scouts will be on hand to pick standout players for lucrative foreign deals abroad. ”
However, the Main Organising Committee (MOC) has adopted a group-phase format to determine qualification for the tournament.
Under the revised format, teams in both groups will each play four matches, in line with the approved fixtures and schedule.
At the end of the group-stage matches, the team with the most points at the top of each group will qualify for the final.
The two group winners will then meet in the grand finale to determine the tournament champion. The final is scheduled for Saturday, October 24.
