Football stakeholders hail Nigeria Future Leaders Festival organisers

A member of Nigeria Football Federation, Aisha Falode has commended the organisers of Nigeria Future Leaders Festival tagged’An Exclusive female football competition’ for empowering the next generation of future leaders through sports.

The one day female football tournament which held on Thursday morning at FIFA legacy comprises four private schools and was put together by sport enthusiast, Folasade Falokun in conjunction with Lagos State Football Association, LSFA.

The four invited private schools are Greenspring Schools, Chrisland Schools, Supreme Education Foundation and Wellspring College.

Greenspring emerged as champions after defeating Supreme Education Foundation 2-0 in the final, while Chrisland emerged third place position after defeating Wellspring College 2-0 on penalties following the goalless draw at the regulation time.

Speaking after the final,Falode said she was impressed with the standard of female football competition among the private schools and commended the organisers for the initiative.

She said female football should be encouraged not only in schools also at the grassroots and urged the school owners and governments to build more sports facilities to enable the female football grow.

“I must commend the organisers of this initiative.This competition inspires young female football talents and promoting gender equality.From what I saw in this competition, the future of female football is brighter in our country.Let me use this medium to urge the school owners and government at all levels to create enabling environment for our children to exhibit their skills at the tender age,”he said.

In his own comment, vice chairman of Lagos State Football Association LSFA,Dotun Coker expressed his satisfaction with the performance of the invited schools and aligned with Falode’s remark on unavailability of enough sports facilities in the state which affects the school sports development.

Also speaking,convener of the tournament, Falokun expressed her heartfelt appreciations to the sponsors, Lagos State Sports Commission and Lagos State Football Association LSFA for their technical, moral, financial and material supports and extended her gratitude to her well wishers and friends for their necessary supports given the tournament to make this year’s edition a successful one.

She explained that the purpose of the one day event was to promote gender equality and give the girl’s child a platform to exhibit their skills through the round leather game.

Samuel Ahmadu

Samuel Ahmadu is a distinguished multimedia journalist and women's football expert with over 15 years of experience in the industry. On the back of domestic engagement since 2008, he began his international career journey at Goal.com in February 2014, where he served as an African women's football correspondent for nearly eight years. During his tenure at Goal.com, Samuel covered major events such as three Women's Africa Cup of Nations (2016, 2018, 2022) and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada plus 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. His work at Goal.com earned him widespread acclaim, particularly for his in-depth profiles of African football stars, notably Asisat Oshoala, whose rise he documented from her early years to her breakthrough at the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in 2014. Prior to his role at Goal.com, Samuel freelanced for various print and broadcast media outlets in Nigeria, including Graphics Newspaper, Radio Nigeria, Grace FM, and Savid Newspaper. His extensive experience and expertise led to his appointment to the Nigeria Football Federation's Standing Committee on Women's Football Development from 2016 to 2018. Since February 2018, Samuel has been the Social Media Manager for Nigeria's women's national teams.In 2019, Samuel joined the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as a women's football content contributor and was promoted to Women's Football Editor in 2021. His contributions to women's football continued as he worked as a Media Consultant for Content Creation and Editorials at the 2022 CAF Women's Champions League. Currently, Samuel also serves as the spokesman for the Nigeria Women Football League, further solidifying his influence and dedication to the growth of women's football in Africa.

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