In a bid to bring sanity to this year’s Winners Golden Bet Lagos State Challenge Cup, the organizers have warned the participating teams to abide by the rules and regulations of the competition.
Chairman Technical Committee of Lagos State Football Association, LSFA, Dotun Coker while addressing the participating teams at the Draws\Media conference held recently in Lagos said the organizers would not condone any act of indiscipline from any team during and after their match.
He said any team misbehaving or violating the rules would be heavily fined and face severe sanctions.
“This is Lagos FA Cup, not ordinary grassroots football competitions. The rules must be strictly followed to the latter. We expect players to dress properly to the match venue. Secondly, the teams should be at the match venue more than an hour before their matches. The teams should ensure that their licenses are properly filled without any mistake.
“Most of us are conversant with the laws of the game and we are expecting the club representatives to educate their players and fans about the rules of the game so that the sled hammer of FA would not fall on undisciplined teams,” he said.
Some of the football stakeholders who spoke to our correspondent said they are ready to abide by the rules and urged the organizers to give all teams a level playing ground. They said what they expect from the organizers is good officiating and avoiding giving some teams preferential treatments.
Bucknor team manager, Adewale Habeeb Abidemi expressed satisfaction with the warnings issued by the organizers saying that he would educate his players and fans on the importance of the rules before their first match.
Meanwhile the title sponsor, Winners Golden Bet has announced the sum of 1million naira for the winners with a giant trophy, while the first runner-up would go home with the sum of N500,000 in the male category.
In the female category, winners would pocket the sum of N500, 000, while the first runner up would receive N300, 000.
Eight four teams are expected to participate in this year’s Lagos FA Cup in the male category, while ten teams registered in the female category. The much anticipated annual football competition would kick off next week across five divisions in the state.
