The Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament enters the semi-finals stage today as four top Nigeria Women Football League Premiership clubs, Bayelsa Queens of Yenagoa, FC Robo of Lagos, Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt, and Edo Queens of Benin battle for the two places in the grand finale of the first class and historic pre-season tournament being hosted by the First Lady of Edo State, Mrs. Betsy Obaseki.
The first semi-finals would see current Aiteo Cup Champions, Bayelsa Queens FC battle FC Robo of Lagos, for a place in the grand finale. This match is a repeat of the Aiteo Cup final game played at the same venue, the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City some months ago.
In that Aiteo Cup final fixture, Bayelsa Queens ran away with a victory against FC Robo. It’s a different ball game entirely, says the Chief Coach of FC Robo, Emmanuel Osahon, and team captain, Monday Gift.
In the words of FC Robo coach; “Though we play in the NWFL Premiership League with Bayelsa Queens, I can say here that, Bayelsa Queens will not beat us for the second time at the same venue. After the Aiteo Cup finals, we learned our lessons about the Yenagoa team. We pray for a favorable game that would see my girls come out victorious.”
Bayelsa Queens Team Manager, Binebi Numa, said his girls are focused on the build-up to the Nigeria Women’s Premiership League which starts on December 8. We started a little slow in the Betsy Obaseki Women Football Tournament and gradually we are picking up quickly and have improved match after match and at the moment, we are still trying out some of our players and planning some strategies to achieve a winning squad. I will say we are beginning to get things right. So, the semi-finals match against FC Robo will be yet another pre-season game that we want to win in our drive to present a great team for the Premiership league.”
The first semi-finals will be played at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium at 3 pm.
The second semi-finals would see host team, Edo Queens of Benin City, engage the current Nigeria league champions and Nigeria’s representative in the CAF Women’s Champions League, Rivers Angels of Port Harcourt, in a difficult game, the Edo Girls would want to use to make a statement and further win the confidence of their sponsors, the Edo State Government. The Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium will be listed up as Edo Queen’s supporters have promised not to stop singing the praises of their home team in the face of a tough encounter that is winnable. The last time Edo Queens played against Rivers Angels, it was at the same venue of today’s second semi-finals in a 2020/2021 NWFL Premiership league game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Edo Queens Chief coach, Wemimo Mathew, is optimistic her team would have a decent game against Rivers Angels. “We played a 1-1 draw against Rivers Angels in our last league game in Benin City before qualifying for the Super Six, but today we have a much-improved team that has kept improving game after game. We hope for a good result against Rivers Angels today. Rivers Angels are a very strong team, that we know.”
The winners of the two semi-finals will qualify for Sunday’s grand final at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium with kick-off fixed for 5 pm after the closing ceremony.
The winner of the tournament will go home with a cash prize of N5 million, while the first runners-up take home N3million and third place N2million. The fourth-place team won’t go empty-handed too, as there is N1million prize money for the loser of the third-place match. The third-place match will be played 8 am on Sunday morning at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium.
