Imo State FA Cup champions and Kanu Nwankwo’s pet club Papilo FC are set to storm the maiden edition of Zulu Cup tagged “1st Zulu 2016 Football Cup” which will hold at Onikan Stadium, Lagos from the 6th to 8th of June.
The U-17 invitational tournament which is being organised by ex-international Joseph Dosu will also feature leading amateur football clubs in Nigeria including Diamond Academy of Umuahia, Lagos State Academy and other teams from across the country.
The high-flying Papilo FC which defeated Heartland FC to end the Naze Millionaires dominance of Imo state football for 27-years will be the favourites going into the competition but will have their works cut out against the likes of Diamond FC which have produced players like Kelechi Nwakali and Samuel Chukwueze.
The event which is being financed by the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Sports Adeboye Anthony Adeyinka will have in attendance the Academy Recruitment Officer of Manchester City FC, Barry Poynton and other foreign scouts.
Speaking to Complete Sports Mr. Adeyinka hailed Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode for his youth-oriented agenda.
He said: “This is part of the Governor’s youth development agenda. We need to promote sports and use it to get kids out of the street. We have a sports loving governor who has shown interest in all sports, not just football and he is doing a lot for grassroot sports.”
The 1st tier of the competition was held at MFM FC Ground, Ibafo with four teams qualifying for the quarter-finals, while the concluding part – Champion of Champions will see the four Lagos-based teams which initially qualified from the 1st stanza take on their counterparts like Papilo FC and Diamond Academy.
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