The sponsor of the just concluded Principals’ Cup Football competition in Delta State, Zenith Bank, has expressed great delight with the standard of the 2019 edition which was the third.
The competition was revived after 27 years in limbo only three years ago courtesy of a partnership initiative between the bank and the Governor Ifeanyi Okowa-led administration of Delta State.
Zenith Bank’s GM and Head, Delta Zone, Lucky Ighade, said the organisation is excited that the tournament has been getting better with every edition.
He said: “The boys are all very talented. I am particularly impressed with the standard of the final match. Our team monitoring the competition also gave us positive reports about the standard exhibited during the early stages of the tournament even at Local Government level.
“We are happy that some of these boys will in future be good ambassadors of the country in football. That is why we are so proud that it is getting bigger and better with every edition.”
Obule Integrated School, Sapele defeated Boys Secondary School, Obiaruku 2-1 in the final match of the Zenith/Delta Principals’ Cup decided at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba on April 1.
Ighade added that the motive of the bank was already being realized because reports suggest that some of the products of the competition are in national teams.
“We have this Principals Cup tournament and another age grade event of the NFF we are supporting and the football federation told us that some of the players in the current U-17 team were from tournaments we sponsored.
“Our purpose of supporting the youths is being realized already and we will do much to make this become very clear in the years ahead. Youths are the leaders of tomorrow and they deserve all the attention they can get today to realize their respective career objectives,” Ighade stressed.
Over 800 private and public secondary schools took part in the competition which started in October last year across all the 25 Local Government Areas of Delta State.
