The glory days of the Lagos State Principal Cup competition is back again as a new rejuvenated competition is launched in the state.
At a well attended Press conference on Tuesday, at the Ivory Health Club, at Ikeja, Lagos, the LSPCC committee Chairman, Hon Rasak Ajala, took time to breakdown the road to the final of the competition.
According to him, over 500 schools are expected to participate in this year’s event.
Speaking further he said that a total of 24 teams are expected to qualify from the preliminary stage of the competition, where 4 teams will qualify from each of the 6 districts.
The District 24 he stated represent all state owned schools that are eligible to participate provided they meet the competition criteria for the school and players. This division is expected to have the highest number of schools participating in the competition, he noted.
Meanwhile, there is also what is known as the “Whitecard Division”
This division he explained is designed to cater for all Private, Unity and Faith- based schools, the rules of eligibility in this division have thus been modified to accommodate the peculiarities encountered in the time past.
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The division will produce 8 teams to qualify to the Principal Cup play offs.
Furthermore, at the play off stage, a total of 32 teams will qualify from the two divisions above, all 32 teams will be drawn into 8 groups where the teams will play amongst themselves to determine the 16 teams that will move to the 2nd round, subsequently the quarter, semi and finals.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Football Association (LSFA), Hon. Fouad Oki, lauded the state government for their support why also reiterating the state and FA’s commitment to the project.
He assured schools of maximum security at the venues of the game.
Ex-international, Peter Rufai thanked the Lagos state government for this laudable project stating that they (himself and many of his colleagues) benefitted immensely from the Principal cup where so many of them went ahead to play for the national team and even got scholarships to study abroad.
He appealed to parents to allow their wards to combine sports and education emphasizing that he is a Masters Degree holder himself.
