Nigeria: Aspire Football Dreams Top-50 Final Begins in Lagos

By Princess Chukwuemeka

Fifty kid footballers from across the country are in Lagos to compete for selection in the final of the 2016 Aspire Football Dreams programme which winds down at the Legacy pitch, National Stadium in Lagos, on September 24.

The scouts who went round released the list of players selected. Among those listed are Awosaya Tobi, Balogun Azeez, Sunkami Ajayi, Bello Abdulbasit, TijaniSamson, Gbogboade Ibraheem, Michael Awelewa, Okuna Lawrence and Oyelade Mubaraq. Others are Taiwo Yinka, Kudus Eletu, Shamsu Ahmed, Abdulahi Ilyasu, Nura Ibrahim, Abraham Anthony Odoh, Amos Oluwatimileyin, Benjamin Isaac, Owolabi Emmanuel and Joseph Garba.

Also listed are Okeke Abuka, Shedrak Justus, Otote Godwin, John Monday, Timothy Peace, Idowu Kolade, Collins Egbebiker, Oluebube Oguduba, Abel Ononso and Ekedigwe Somtochukwu.

According to the Country Director of Aspire Football Dreams, Nigeria, Col Sam Ahmedu, this year's edition which is the 10th will see players jostle for a final selection that would give them an opportunity to earn a five year scholarship in Senegal and Doha, Qatar in January, 2017.

"It's a thing of joy for us to see that the scouts had a smooth journey traversing the 80 fields across Nigeria for the identification of talents. The process through which players would be finally selected gives us confidence that they got their places purely based on merit."

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