YOUTHS from across the country were yesterday in Lagos given the opportunity to participate in the 2011 edition of Copa Coca-Cola, the grassroots football development programme for U-16 boys and girls.Organisers of the programme said the competition, which kicked off yesterday, would see the best players and teams from the 36 states vying for an opportunity to be selected for the Copa Dream Team that will represent Nigeria at an international football camp/tournament at the Chelsea training stadium in London, and also have the opportunity of watching a live English Premiership game.Speaking during the unveiling of the tournament, Copa Coca-Cola Project Manager, Femi Adelusi, disclosed that secondary school teams and clubs, city/community-based youth teams and all teenagers within the U-16 category were expected to participate in the tourney that gives them the opportunity to become successful footballers.Teams and individuals are expected to enter the tournament through a registration process by obtaining forms from all Coca-Cola plants across the country and Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria offices in each state capital, he said.We have a technical committee that will fish out hidden talents in every centre and mentor them to become members of the Copa Coca-Cola team to the African championship. We also have physiotherapists to monitor the wellbeing of the participants, just as we have set up structures to ensure that participants are within the age bracket.Also speaking on the programme, which theme this year is Open Up The Game, Coca-Cola Marketing Director, Austin Ufomba, said his company was sponsoring the tourney with over N1 billion because we see the programme as a pipeline to discover and nurture players for Nigeria.He added: 10,000 youths are expected to go through our clinics over three years, and as part of the rewards for good performance, we will adopt 33 schools in the developmental programme.
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