BY SUNDAY AKINTOYE
Chairman Lagos State Football Association (LSFA), Ogboni Fouad Oki says this year’s Lagos State Challenge Cup popularly known as Lagos FA Cup would go ahead without sponsor.
Oki disclosed this while speaking with Journalists during the draws/press conference of Lagos FA Cup which held on Thursday afternoon at the media center of Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
The much awaited Lagos FA Cup would kick off on March 2, Saturday, 2024 across the designated centers.80 clubs are expected to participate in this year’s edition.
Although Winners Golden Bet, a well-known Betting Company has been sponsoring the Lagos FA Cup more than six years, but the company is not part of this year’s edition which gives football stakeholders a lot of concerns.
Oki explained that he is not disturbed that no company or individual has partnered with the the association for FA Cup but remained optimistic that the competition would get a sponsor before it gets to the quarter final stage.
“I am not too bothered about the sponsorship of the competition.If you look at the country presently, many companies are still struggling to survive but i want to assure the participating teams and football fans before the tournament reaches quarter final, sponsor would surely come.
“We the organising committee are still working on the possibility to get one or two sponsors on board. Like I said I am not really worried, and the most important things is that the competition would kick off on Saturday,” he said.
In the earlier welcome address, the Lagos FA boss expressed satisfaction with the number of teams that are participating in this year’s edition.
He disclosed that the state has largest number of entries among the states in the country and charged the teams that would represent the the state to do well in the Federation Cup and possibly win the trophy.
“Lagos has number of entries compare to other states that have less than 10 teams in their state’s FA Cup. If we have such numbers of teams registered and i expect any team that would represent Lagos should make us proud and bring the Federation Cup back to the state,” he said.