21 football teams will begin hostilities today as the third edition of the annual Nigerian Premier Football League (NPFL) and LaLiga Promises Tournament kick-off today.
The U-15 tournament which is part of the NPFL and LaLiga’s drive to the develop grassroots football in Nigeria has been designed to encourage NPFL Clubs to set up and maintain youth structures.
The preliminary stages of the competition will be played across Benin, Abuja, Kaduna and Enugu. The quarterfinals, semi-finals and the final will then be hosted at the Agege stadium in Lagos from the 22nd – 28th April, 2019.
READ ALSO: La Liga to train Nigerian coaches for U-15 tournament
Managing Director, LaLiga Nigeria, Javier del Río spoke about the tournament in Nigeria and said “We are once again thrilled to have the opportunity to develop young talents across Nigeria. We are committed to each of our projects across Africa and hosting this tournament in Nigeria aims to further show our commitment to the development of football in the country through our longstanding partnership with the NPFL”.
Also speaking about the initiative, NFF 2nd Vice President and LMC Chairman, Mallam Shehu Dikko said “ the U-15 promises tournament is very impactful as some of the young talents have already started blossoming into special footballers, three of the players from the 2017 edition are in the current National U17 team, some are in the U20s as well and some have gotten game time with their first team in the league this season.
We are committed to developing football from the grassroots as we believe these kids will end up growing up to become representatives of Nigeria in major tournaments in the future.”
The NPFL-LaLiga partnership was signed in 2016 and has since recorded a number of exchange projects between the two leagues, including a tour of Spain by an NPFL All-Star team, the opening of the LaLiga Nigeria office in Abuja.
