Glo launches soccer development show

DEVELOPMENT

Globacom has demonstrated its commitment to sports development in West Africa with its new Glo Soccer Academy; a TV Reality show tagged The Dream Team, in Lagos.

Globacom's Director of Events and Sponsorships, Bode Opeseitan, said the Glo Soccer Academy was conceived to discover and train talented young footballers in Nigeria, Ghana and Benin Republic. He said the company was "proud to float the Glo Soccer Academy, which is expected to discover young talent, teach and groom them to become world-class footballers who can compete with their contemporaries anywhere in the world and shine like trillion stars".

He said the Academy aims at providing a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for young talented footballers to kick-start their career in professional football, adding that the Academy is designed to scout through key locations in West Africa in order to screen thousands of promising youngsters out of which 33 talented finalists will be camped in a soccer academy in Lagos and trained by celebrity coaches from West Africa and Manchester United for five weeks.

From this lot, 16 participants will emerge as the best of the pack with mouth-watering pecks including cash prizes, scholarships and a training tour of the Manchester United Soccer Schools in the UK. "Our Sponsorship of the Academy is in line with Globacom's commitment to constantly develop and promote the game of football in Africa as a socially responsible indigenous company,'' said the Glo representative.

He called on youth in Nigeria, Ghana and Benin to make utmost use of the opportunity provided by the Academy as a first step towards realising their potential, adding that Globacom is "confident that the Academy will motivate young players, coaches and administrators to work harder, thereby leading to further development of the game."

He said the Glo Soccer Academy would be "the turning point in the lives of hidden talents in our localities across West Africa." One of the final 16 players at the Academy will win the ultimate prize of N5 Million for emerging as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the competition with a Gbam Scholarship worth N750,000 while the rest will win N1 Million plus, G BAM Scholarships worth N750, 000 each.

The Glo Soccer Academy will be a gathering of talented future African footballers while the Academy itself will be a creative infusion of fun and excitement that will signal the arrival of a new dawn in football entertainment in not only Nigeria, Ghana and Benin Republic but the entire Africa, said Globacom.