By: Olamide O. Abe
Education Students Association of Nigeria (ESAN), the principal association for all Nigerian Educators, through the office of the National Director of Sport, has kicked off a football championship for lovers of the game called ‘ESAN NATIONAL 5-A-SIDE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 2021’.
The maiden edition of this event will take place at Federal College of Education, Abeokuta targeting all education students willing to participate throughout the whole nation to celebrate their shared passion: football.
This ESAN’s signature five-a-side championship will be a fast, technical and fun competition that will see two teams of five players, sans a goalkeeper, have 15 minutes to strut their stuff to win cash prizes and awards. The twist in this thrilling affair is that it’ll be looking to bring players from NCE in Colleges of Education and their Degree counterparts from Faculty of Education across Nigeria.
As a duly registered organization under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ESAN is the body responsible for the overall promotion of all Nigerian education students’ welfare and all-round development in academic, socio-political, and cultural life with a membership strength of over 100,000 nationwide. With the mission to promote harmonious interaction between students, community citizenship, good sportsmanship, and both physical and mental development through organized competition, they have pioneered several educational and social programs that have impacted positively in the society.
The championship form is on sale and opens to everyone. Interested players will be enlisted as 10-man teams barring the accreditation by the organizer’s committee. The date of the draws for the championships is not fixed yet but the championship proper will kick-off on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, with the teams in groups, after which the round-robin stage winners and runners-up will proceed to the knock out stages. The 10-day-long campaign will produce a final winner on Saturday, October 8, 2021, with the first, second and third going away with prizes.
In his remarks, the National Director of Sport, Comrade Ariyibi Samuel Opeoluwa, said, “ESAN believes every student has the prospective to maximize their potentials and do great things. We believe that through sports, we are giving them the tools to explore, learn, invent, and develop since the mission of our association is to help the student to widen their social and cognitive adeptness through sports and education.
Shedding more light on the championship, Ariyibi said, “Physically, this football championship is aimed at encouraging student’s healthy lifestyles and develops their key physical attributes. Mentally, it will develop teamwork, problem-solving, and communication skills among the students while socially, no other extracurricular activities bring students together as sport can.” He added that one of the importance of this unique championship is “an urgent need to build a platform that shall provide the training ground for young sports men and women that can also serve as a nursery for our national teams.”
Regarding the ultimate prize of the football championship, Ariyibi commented, “There will be cash and equipment prizes for the first, second and third-placed teams, while there may be consolation prizes for all participating teams. Other awards will include Most Disciplined Team, Most Valuable Player, Highest Goal Scorer, Best Defender, Best Goal Keeper, Most Entertaining Team, Best Fan Club among others.”
According to Ariyibi, “ex-footballers Rafael Ademola, Wasiu Showemimo and Izu’u Chukwuka who played in Turkish league will be part of the tournament’s ambassadors.” These players has had a distinguished career as a professional football player, and their knowledge and experience will be very pivotal to their role as an Ambassador of the unique ESAN five-a-side Championship.
Olamide O. Abe (MrJoyoung) is an award-winning campus journalist and freelance sportscaster with half a decade of experience in news reporting and analysis. He is a final year student of the University of Ibadan and works with UCJ UI as a sports columnist. Reach out to abeolamide@gmail.com to connect!
