The Victor Ikpeba Football Challenge will move round the thirty states of Nigeria and Abuja starting from the next edition of the Under -17 Football competition which is basically for development, exposure of hidden talents across all the geopolitical zones of the country and to give back to a country that helped him become a world-class soccer star.
This was disclosed at the weekend by the former African Footballer of the Year, Victor Ikpeba, who stressed that: “The only way I believe future Nigerian soccer youngsters can be discovered is by moving this Five-A-Side Football Challenge to the grassroots in all states of the federation.
“The talents are there, but they are hidden and competitions like these don’t get to them to get them exposed to the world. Such talents will just be wrought away without proper development and exposure.
“That is why we have decided with the full backing of Bet9ja move this my little competition to all states of Nigeria in the Five-A-Side Challenge.”
Ikpeba added: “Sometimes, it’s difficult to discover great talents playing the conventional full-field football, but quicker to see them in the Five-A-Side format since the Challenge is just for three days. Don’t forget some of the great talents discovered will be given the opportunity of exposure, by this, I will be giving back by helping youth football development in Nigeria in my own little way.
“The very first time the Victor Ikpeba Football Challenge was held, was in June 2021, in a grassroots community in Lagos State, it’s called Obele Odan. The response to this competition was the very exception, the reason we have decided through the solid backing of Bet9ja to spread the competition across the 36 states of the federation. Our next destination may likely be in Remo, Ogun State.”
