ULTIMATE FC and Etienne FC, both of Enugu State, qualified to represent the South-East zone at the knock out stage of the Gulder Five-A-side Football Competition scheduled to hold in Lagos next month.The South East Zone qualifying matches, which were played at the Rangers Practice Pitch, Enugu, from May 4 to 6, saw Ultimate FC beating Etienne FC by two goals to one to emerge overall winners of the qualifiers in the final game. Speaking on the tournament, former Green Eagles Goalkeeper and member of the 1980 Nations Cup winning team, Emmanuel Okala, who was present at the finals, expressed gratitude to Gulder for organising the tournament.'I sincerely want to thank Gulder for the opportunity given to these young lads. This tournament has kept the boys very busy and it's a unique initiative. The regular football game of 11-A-side is already overcrowded so this is a welcome development particularly at the grassroots level and for the development of the 5-A-Side game in Nigeria'.While calling on other corporate bodies to embrace the initiative, Okpala expressed optimism that the talents discovered in Gulder Five-A-Side would go on to achieve greater things in their football careers. 'I remember we had superb support from this same brand (Gulder) back in my playing days with Rangers International. I thank Gulder for sustaining the tradition and I call on other brands to come out and embrace this initiative of developing grassroots football in Nigeria at all levels. For the players, I have seen a great deal of potentials in them; I look forward seeing them play even better at the big stage in Lagos,' he stated.Captain of Ultimate FC, Obinna Ajoku, who spoke with correspondents after leading his team to beat Etienne FC, stated that the aim of the team was to go all the way to clinch the coveted prize at the finals. 'We are happy to win this stage of the competition but we don't want to stop here. We want to go on to win the ultimate prize,' Ajoku stated.Also speaking was the captain of the Etienne FC, Ejiro Ene, who expressed optimism that his team would bounce back from the defeat to do well in the competition. 'I trust in the ability of my players because we have done so much to merit a place in Lagos. We are ready for any team we are going to face in Lagos. We will intensify efforts to make sure that everything go well with us," Ene boasted.The Enugu qualifiers witnessed top football dignitaries including; Emeka Nobodo, former flying Eagles player, Enugu FA Chairman, Hon. Chidi Ofor Okenwa amongst others.After the successful South-East qualifiers in Enugu, the battle will now shift to the Liberation Stadium Practice Pitch, Port Harcourt, where the shortlisted teams from the South-South zone will slug it out with one another on the weekend of Friday May 11 to Sunday May 13, 2012. Just like in Enugu and Makurdi, two qualifiers will emerge from Port Harcort. Oleh, in Delta State, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State and Lagos, are the last three locations where zonal qualifying matches will take placeAt the end of the zonal qualifiers, attention will turn to Lagos where the final stage of the competition will hold. The 12 qualifying teams from the zones will vie for the ultimate prize. All the 12 qualifying teams that will come to play at the knock out stage in Lagos will be fully kitted by the Gulder brand.The eventual winner of Gulder Ultimate Five-A-Side Soccer championships will go home with a cash prize of N5 million, while the second placed team gets N2 million and the third placed team gets N1 million.
Click here to read full news..
