Two newly promoted Nigeria Women Football League Championship teams, Oasis Ladies and Royaltoms Queens have emerged as the two finalists in the inaugural EkoFootball Queens Championship.
In the first semi-final played at the Agege Stadium, Oasis Ladies defeated Papa Soccer Academy 1-0 to book a place in the grand finale of the EkoFootball Queens Championship 2021.
While in the second semi-final, also played at the Agege Stadium, Royaltoms Queens showed class against a determined Prince Kazeem Eletu Queens as they suppressed the Eletu Queens 3-0 to contend with the losers final against Papa Soccer.
The two finalists emerged from the same Group C in the preliminary league group stages.
Oasis Ladies topped Group C with seven points and a +6 goal difference, while Royaltoms Queens finished second place in Group C with the same seven points and +5 goal difference. And when the two teams played in the group stages, the match ended in a 2-2 draw, leaving the grand finale of the EkoFootball Queens Championship a battleground for supremacy in women’s football in Lagos between Royaltoms Queens and Oasis Ladies.
In the grand finale, a winner must emerge. If the match should end a draw at the end of regulations, the game will go into penalties, and if there are still stalemates at the end of the penalties, the teams will be separated by sudden death penalty series.
The Lagos FA Chairman, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, after the semi-finals, expressed satisfaction on the standard of the championship which he said was very high and had exposed all the 24 amateur women’s football teams that participated in the Championship as he is sure they are better prepared to continue in their quest to get to the top of the women’s league in Nigeria.
Akinwunmi, who is also the First Vice President of the Nigeria Football Federation, noted that he was happy that Royaltoms Queens and Oasis Ladies emerged as the finalists. “They just showed us that, their promotion to the NWFL Championship in Ijebu Ode was not a fluke. We shall continue to monitor their progress and ensure as an association that they reach the pinnacle of the game when the subject is Nigeria women’s league. The same attention will be given to the other top teams that showed a great understanding of the game of football.
“I don’t have any doubt in my mind that the eventual winner of the EkoFootball Queens Championship will surely be a true champion and the best in Lagos. The third-placed final between Papa Soccer Academy and Prince Kazeem Eletu Queens will equally be very interesting. I can tell you that the Lagos Football Association is proud of all the 24 teams that participated in the EkoFootball Queens Championship 2021.”
