At least ten International scouts will be in Nigeria for the Lagos Supremacy Cup starting next week.
Organisers confirmed that the coordinator for expatriates and Head of Diamond Sports Management, Cem Sagar, will be accompanied by nine additional scouts to Lagos for the tournament.
Among those confirmed for the event are Dan Smejkal, Tomas Syrovatka, Pape Cissokho, Toni Bilandzic, Dennys Dilettosso, Nenad Sarcevic, Zdenek Mikyska, Jan Prosek, and Florin Biba.
The tournament is set to take place from November 27th to 30th at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena.
Supremacy Cup will feature some of the top grassroots teams including defending champions Dino FC, Ikorodu City FC, Broad City FC, and Real Saphire FC, along with Beyond Limits FC, Seamoriow FC, 36 Lion, Bethel FC, MS Success FC, and Charlesann FC.
Lagos State Football Association (LSFA) Chairman, Hajji Olawale Liameed Gafar, who is the Chief Convener of the highly anticipated tournament, said that each match will consist of two halves lasting 30 minutes each.
Notably, there will be no offside calls during the games, which is expected to minimize unnecessary stoppages and increase both playtime and scoring opportunities.
While discussing the significance of the tournament for the advancement of football in Nigeria, he said that only 69 youth players can represent the national U15, U17, and U20 teams in any given generation.
“Our primary goal is to create more opportunities for youth footballers in Nigeria.”
“We have only three youth national teams: U-15, U-17, and U-20. Each of these teams can only feature 23 players per tournament per generation. What happens to the remaining one million active semi-professional players?”
“The solution lies in the Lagos Supremacy Cup. While the 10 teams participating in this tournament do not encompass the entirety of Nigeria’s youth football landscape, they have been carefully selected based on their track records in identifying and nurturing top talent,” he added.
