As Nigeria joins other nations to compete for the World Cup diadem, Airtel Nigeria has opened the doors for discovery of potential future stars of the competition through nationwide registration of players for the Airtel Rising Stars U-17 male and female competition Season 4.
Registration for participation in the season four of the tournament which started June 4th runs till June 27th, 2014 across the country. Talented footballers, male and female, can obtain registration forms from any of the 77 Airtel Express Shops nearest to them nationwide.
The registration heralds the Open Screening Camps in five designated locations, where the participants will be screened for age compliance and given the opportunity to showcase their talents before a team of technical advisers and coaches to stand the chance of being part of the zonal teams to the National Finals in Lagos to challenge for honors.
About a thousand teams comprising 16,000 players are expected to feature in this year’s edition of the ARS. This figure will add to the 50,000 active participants recorded in the last three seasons of the tournament.
As part of efforts to deepen the technical depth of the annaul football tournament, five Nigerian ex-internationals have been appointed as technical advisers to the participating youngsters.
The technical advisers include ex-Super Eagles players, Mutiu Adepoju, Garba Lawal and Peter Rufai, ex-Super Falcons goal tender, Anne Chiejinne and Olympic gold medalist, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara.
The Airtel Rising Stars U-17 Tourney, a unique pan African initiative of Airtel Africa, is designed to provide support for the development of football talents across Nigeria. It aims at discovering talented students (male and female) of secondary school age and providing them the opportunity to gain football skills and develop into renowned stars.
Airtel Rising Stars is touted as the biggest tournament in the continent and has attracted approximately 18,000 youth teams and 324,000 youth players across 17 countries. In addition to galvanising the biggest turnout during the championship stages, the program has also broken new ground by introducing girls to a pan African tournament, making it the only non-discriminatory tournament in the continent.
