The MKO Abiola International Stadium, Abeokuta will on Tuesday 2nd August, 2016 host the finals of the GTBank-Ogun State Principals Cup. The much-anticipated fixtures will light up the Rock City as thousands of football lovers and supporters from the Egba, Ijebu, Remo, and Yewa divisions of the State will troop to Kuto to witness the soccer spectacle.
The girls will kick off the day’s encounter as defending champions, Muslim High School seek to retain their title as they take on Iganmode Grammar School, who are playing in their first final. Emerging from the Egba, and Yewa divisions respectively, both schools have 30 goals to their credit, and are expected to raise the tally in the final. The Iganmode girls have conceded the least number of goals in the competition so far, and will be looking to tighten their defense against the leading scorer of Muslim High School, Iyabo Ajani who scored a hat-trick in the 4-0 semifinal victory against Makun High School.
In the boys’ category, Alamuwa Grammar School will take on Methodist Comprehensive College. Both schools will be playing in the finals for the first time. The Methodist team go into the game as favorites having knocked out last season’s winners, Pakoto High School by 4 goals to 1 in the semifinals. The match is expected to be full of action and entertaining as both teams are relatively equal in strength, and play very aggressive attacking football.
Winners will be rewarded with the sum of N1,000,00.00, while the 1st ,2nd, 3rd runners-up will be given N750,000.00, N500,000.00 and N350,000,00 respectively in both male and female categories.
Commenting on the significance of the competition in Nigeria’s educational framework, the MD/CEO of Guaranty Trust Bank plc Mr. Segun Agbaje, believes “the competition paves the way for youths to cultivate their sporting talents, while fostering and building a healthier lifestyle at a critical stage in their lives”. He enjoined the students to imbibe the spirit of fair play, hard work, and discipline, which are some of the core values of GTBank.
Guaranty Trust Bank, a youth-oriented brand maintains the lead in providing support for education and sports to enable young boys and girls explore their talents and reach for their dreams. It is one of the few Nigerian financial institutions that have maintained a defined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, most especially in sports education. The Bank actively supports in-classroom and out-of-classroom educational programmes, infrastructure development, students’ scholarship and teachers training across Africa.
Alongside the Ogun State Principals Cup, GTBank also sponsors the Lagos State Principals Cup, and the Masters Cup tournament.