Abuja -The Main Organising Committee (MOC) of the FCT Principal’s Cup football competition on Wednesday said the competition would commence on Oct. 12 for senior secondary schools in the territory.
The Chairman of the Committee, Patrick Ngwaogu, said in a statement in Abuja that the Committee took so many things into considering to arrive at the date.
“All schools in the FCT will resume on Sept. 7 and the schools will need at least three weeks to prepare adequately for the competition.
“The Salah holidays which falls into the month of September is also an advantage for the competition.
“So, they (the participating schools) have all the month of September and first week of October to prepare themselves and get ready for the competition,’’ he said.
Ngwaogu also said all the 54 senior secondary schools in the FCT have presently expressed their interest to participate in the competition.
He said many private schools equally signified interest in taking part in the competition.
“We have directed their representatives in our committee to collate that and submit to us soonest.
“It is after that, that we can give the exact number of schools participating in the competition,’’ the MOC chairman said.
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Ngwaogu further said the competition would be played on a zonal basis with Government Secondary School Kwali and Government Secondary School Gwagwalada serving as centres.
Others schools in this category are Government Secondary School Karshi, Government Secondary School Kuje and Government Secondary School Tundun wada Wuse Zone 4.
“We are expecting three teams to qualify from each of the zones, but with the Wuse Zone 4 group having a large number of schools, it will produce four teams, for a total of 16 teams for the finals.
“We also intend to have zonal finals, where trophies and prizes will be awarded to the finalists at the zones.
“We want every qualifier to win something before coming to the state finals,’’ he said.
Ngwaogu also said the competition’s organisers were going to apply the new FIFA rule as it affects substitution of players, where a substituted player can also be allowed re-entry.
“The substitution for the matches will be increased to five players,’’ the MOC chairman said.
He urged corporate bodies to fully embrace the competition aimed at discovering hidden talents from the secondary schools and return the glamour of secondary school football competition to the FCT.
“All these will depend on the availability of funds. We are still expecting response from the corporate bodies we have contacted.
“But I am very sure that now that we have fixed the dates, their response will be faster. We are solely depending on them to get all these actualised,” Ngwaogu said.(NAN)
