Olawale Ajimjotokanin Abuja
The President of Africa Mini-Football Confederation, Achraf Ben Salha has expressed satisfaction with the Ilaji Sports Resort, Ibadan, to host the second Africa Mini-Football Confederation Nations Cup.
Salha, a Tunisian, who is also the Vice-President of the World Mini-Football Federation gave the verdict when he was accompanied on the facility inspection tour by Tarik Zakaria, a member of AMC.
“I have seen fantastic facilities at Ilaji. The facilities in the hostel and hotel for the players and officials are of world-class. The only places that I have seen such facilities are in the United States of America, Dubai and Germany among some of the countries that I have visited where mini-football is played. The uniqueness of the facilities at Ilaji Sports Resort is that all the facilities are in the same enclosure on a verse land and that would reduce stress on the players, as they would come out of their rooms and walk straight to the pitch without waiting for official vehicle,” Salha declared.
He, however, pointed out that the minor deficiencies could be fixed within one week. The second edition of the Africa Mini-Football Confederation Nations Cup is scheduled for July 8 to 17, 2021.
The Tunisian also expressed elation that while inspecting the facilities, he received calls from more countries, indicating interest to participate in the tournament in Nigeria, adding from the present situation, they will have about 26 countries in attendance as against 20 entries that earlier indicated interest to participate.
“This is a great improvement compared to the 11 countries that featured in the maiden edition in 2018 in Libya, and three foreign television stations have approached me for live telecast of the matches of the tournament in Nigeria,” Ben Salha said adding “I am here in Nigeria as the eyes of the World Mini-Football Federation and all President of the African Mini-Football Confederations”.
He also assured that after seeing the facilities at Ilaji Sports Resort, AMC is convinced that Nigeria remains its only Plan A, Plan B and Plan C to host the second edition of the tournament.
The Chairman of Nigeria Mini-Football Association, Hon Oluyemi Adewale Taiwo said all hands are on the deck to ensure a successful hosting of the tournament.
He said the association would open camp by the end of the month from where a formidable team that would represent the country would be assembled.
Cote d’Ivoire that won the maiden edition in Libya is among the countries being expected in the Ilaji tournament.
