The grand finale of the seven week-long HRA Youth Cup competitions took place on Sunday, 3 September, 2023, with winners emerging in different categories.
In the first match of the Grand Finale between female football teams, FC Phoenix Queens from Apapa Iganmu and Unification Talent Queens from Agege, the latter carried the day, beating their opponents by two goals to one.
In the U-16 male category, the two teams: Ghetto Tigers of Odiolowo and African Future Stars of Maryland, played their hearts out to the admiration of the crowd at the Stadium but the match after 90 minutes ended goalless.
The match went into penalty kicks where Ghetto Tigers FC of Odi Olowo Ojuwoye LCDA won by 7 goals to 6 against African Future Stars of Maryland.
The sponsor and Chairman of Odiolowo-Ojuwoye LCDA Hon. Rasaq Olusola Ajala commended the organizers of the competition.
He thanked God for positioning him to make a meaningful impact in the lives of the people of the LCDA most especially the youth.
He stated that there are negative narratives about Mushin and with erroneous belief that nothing good could come from there.
“But with the kind of competitions such as football, it will be used as a veritable platform to showcase the hidden talents among the youth and redirect their energies to something productive and something that will be more beneficial to them instead of using them for negativity.
“Football has become a huge business in the world today.
“The youth need to be encouraged, projected, and promoted to the people out there to know their worth
“Football clubs will look after their talents and it will manifest in their economic prosperity if they choose football as a career,” he said.
Ajala stressed further that: “As a government, we need to provide infrastructure such as pitches, and policy formulation to encourage private sectors so that they can see football as a business the same way their counterparts in the developed world see football.
“Such private organizations can pick a team, identify with it, and sponsor it so that the clubs won’t depend solely on the government funds because the government has so many compelling things that are competing with the fund available to it”.
The Coordinator of the competition, Azeez Mustapha when asked about the success story of the competition highlighted the testimony of clubs who have been receiving calls from higher league clubs due to the media visibility that the competition has given to their players in the last 3 seasons.
He concluded by thanking the participating team for trusting the organizers with their football prosperity and development and associating with the HRA Youth Cup brand.
