26 April 2015, Sweetcrude, Houston – Twenty-seven schools have emerged as champions from the state finals in the ongoing 17th edition of the NNPC-Shell Cup for Nigerian secondary schools sponsored by the Shell Petroleum Development Company Joint Venture.
According to the Nigerian School Sports Federation, organisers of the event, the state champions will now compete in zonal preliminaries between April 27 and May 01, 2015 in nine zones.
The quarterfinals will take place from May 08-11, 2015 while the semi-final and the final matches are slated for May 22 and 24 respectively at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
The NNPC-Shell Cup tournament has created a platform for the discovery of new football talents some of whom have subsequently played for the Nigerian national team at all levels.
“Every new edition comes with new excitement and innovations to help our young talents blend their academic pursuit with their passion,” said SPDC’s Sustainable Development and Community Relations Manager, Mr. Igo Weli, who added that the international exposure of team coaches and the players to foreign technical crew from the renowned Feyenoord Football Academy of the Netherlands was meant to upscale the tournament’s standard.
According to Weli, Super Eagle Ejike Uzoenyi who was the most valuable player at the 2013 African Nations Cup, and Idowu Akinjide who was a member of the victorious Golden Eaglets that won the 2013 FIFA under-17 World Cup in the United Arab Emirate are both products of the NNPC-Shell Cup tournament.
