Excitement is building ahead of the Lagos Pre-Season Tournament and fans have been guaranteed good football on the pitch with plenty of gifts courtesy of BugaWin after the betting company announced a partnership with the organizers.
The sixteen-team tournament will be held from September 18 to 22 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos Island with eight matches scheduled for each day during the preliminary round.
The pre-season tournament organized by the Fouad Oki-led Lagos State Football Association received a big boost from BugaBet as the company partnered with the tournament to reward participating teams and their fans.
Chief Executive Officer, BugaWin Otunba Charles Farinmoyo expressed the brand’s passion for football and commitment to enhance grassroots development through their partnership with the Lagos State Football Association.
He revealed plans by BugaWin to give out exciting prizes to fans and supporters throughout the tournament while thanking the LSFA for creating the platform for the company to be part of the initiative and carry out corporation social responsibility”.
Farinmoyo added “We see this as an opportunity and whatever we have, we will do and that’s how we partnered with the tournament in the blink of an eye. We are just a new company; we respect our great grandfathers and fathers in the sports betting business. So, our expenses are enormous to even play catch up, but I want to give you the BugaWin commitment that we are in with you all throughout this competition. Apart from branding, from the first moment, we will be in the stadium as early as 5 a.m. You will meet our team there and we will do raffles for those early birds who will be at the venue before 7 a.m. to win fantastic prizes. Every day, there will be raffle draws. We are planning to give motorcycles, fans, electric kettles, pressing irons and so on. We also have daily prizes after the matches, it could be tickets to go on vacation or stay-cation in top hotels in Lagos”.
Vice Chairman of the LSFA, Liameed Gafar, applauded BugaWin for partnering with the board in staging the tournament at short notice, stating that the management of the betting company has demonstrated a huge passion for the beautiful game.
“During the five days of the tournament, they will be bringing different prizes into the stadium. Ranging from pressing irons, standing fans and different gifts. There will be raffle draws and whatever you win, you take it home. They will give us wallets, much like a ticket that you can cash out and you can “buga”. They will be supporting the technical staff during the tournament, and I believe through this support, we will give them great mileage and I’m sure they will be everywhere very soon. They believe in us because they believe that football should not bring violence” Gafar said.
Three Nigeria National League and 13 Nationwide League One clubs are participating in the forthcoming tournament. The clubs were pulled into four groups of four teams each for the preliminary round.
First Bank FC, Real Sapphire, Lekki United and Broad City were drawn to Group A while Tradesafe Sports FC, A.S Racine, Emmydinho FC and BYT FC are in Group B.
Smart City FC, Okaka FC, TCCG FC and Dannaz FC are in Group C while Ikorodu City are pitched in Group C alongside Spartans FC, Magic Stars and Buruj FC.
A total of 32 matches will be played during the tournament with First Bank FC and Real Sapphire getting the proceedings underway on Monday, September 18. The Lagos Pre-Season Tournament will end on Friday, September 22nd.
