Organizers of the Dozy Mmobuosi Super Cup Football Tournament on Tuesday in Abuja presented the Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) with their winners’ prize money of 100 million Naira.
The Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), which organized the competition held earlier in December in Lagos, made the presentation alongside the sponsors, the Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation.
3SC of Ibadan beat Enyimba International of Aba 3-2 in the final match of the competition on Dec. 9.
The competition, which was for clubs listed as traditional clubs with title-winning legacies, also had Rangers International of Enugu and Bendel Insurance of Benin.
Speaking during the winners’ cheque presentation, the Chairman of IMC-NPFL, Gbenga Elegbeleye, explained that the delay arose from the process of getting the money across.
”Our partners in this competition are global entrepreneurs and it can take some time to get a huge amount involved across the world.
”But we are happy that this has been done with, in order to further underline the credibility of the tournament, the sponsors, and the organizers,” he said.
While speaking earlier on the competition, Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operations Officer (COO) of IMC-NPFL, had said the tournament was for “four traditional clubs with continental legacies”, as demanded by the sponsors.
A representative of the sponsors, Segun Sani, also announced that the competition’s runners-up, Enyimba International, would soon be receiving 30 million Naira as their prize money, based on recent discussions.
He, however, said the event was an eye-opener and assured that the next edition which would now be for the top eight clubs in next season’s NPFL would be better.
“This has been a huge success, and preparations for the next edition will begin earlier,” Sani, who was accompanied by Peter Owoloko, the COO of Tingo Media partners of Dozy Mmobuosi Foundation, said.
After receiving their prize money, Babatunde Olaniyan, Chairman of 3SC FC, expressed the club’s appreciation of the sponsors and organizers of the tournament.
“We have never had it so good, and I want to believe it is the beginning of good things for us in the Nigerian football league.
“I assure you that we will judiciously use this money to further develop our club so that the expectations of taking the league to the highest level will be quickly realized,” he said.