It was glitz, glamour and pulsating football at the grand finale of the 2018 Diamond Cup as hosts Diamond Football Academy won the tournament for the third year running after beating Emewal Sports of Uyo 2-0 in a thrilling encounter on Thursday.
Both team locked horns in the final after finishing top of their respective groups in the three-day event at the Diamond Football Stadium Umuahia in the presence of top dignitaries, several scouts from European clubs and a massive crowd who trooped out in numbers to the newly constructed stadium to witness the football fiesta.
A first-half penalty by Frank Nweke who won the Golden Booth and a beautiful team goal in the second-half was enough to see off Emewal Sports who gave a good account of themselves in the tournament and went home with a cash prize.
Cash prizes and gift items including Plasma TV, Refrigerator, Home theatre and many more were also given to the highest goalscorer, best player, best goalkeeper and the second best player, while Future Stars of Port Harcourt who finished third after beating Jah-Rule Academy of Owerri 2-1 in the third-place match also went home with a cash prize.
Speaking after the event, the organiser and President of Diamond Football Academy Hon. Martin Apugo reiterated his commitment to the development football in Nigeria and said he is ready to partner with government at any level in this regard.
Hon. Apugo also expressed his joy in seeing some Diamond Academy products such as Arsenal star who’s on loan to FC Porto Kelechi Nwakali and Villarreal teenage sensation Samuel Chukwueze doing well in Europe and for the national teams.
“I’m happy for Samuel Chukuweze and Kelechi Nwakali, however I’m not surprised,” Hon. Apugo began.
“At the U17 World Cup in 2015 Chukwueze won the Bronze Booth and Nwakali was the best player of the tournament, from that time I knew the two boys are going to do wonders and now I’m not surprised at all because I saw it many years ago.
“We have other boys like them too in Diamond Academy who are just waiting for the opportunity explode, so I’m not surprised, any product from Diamond is exceptional. That’s why we organise tournaments like this so that they can showcase themselves and I’m glad the scouts have identified some budding talents that can be developed into future starts,” he concluded.
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