Asisat Oshoala Foundation Unveils Plans For 2021 Football4girls Tourney

This year’s Asisat Oshoala Foundation powered football4girls tournament promises to be bigger and fun-filled.

The all-girl grassroots football event, which will hold in the first week of December, is scheduled for the Mobolaji Johnson Sports Arena, Onikan, Lagos.

The Football4girls project is one of many projects from the Asisat Oshoala Foundation, and the idea is for girls to come together to learn the basics of football from the captain of Nigeria’s senior women team, the Super Falcons, while also reminding them of the importance of education.

P.M. EXPRESS gathered that during the three days tournament, there will be mentoring sessions for the participating girls.

“The 2021 edition of football4girls event, which will be the sixth edition will hold at the new Onikan Stadium on Lagos Island. It will feature 16 teams in Nigeria. They will battle for cash prizes, while the Most Valuable Player (MVP) will head to Barcelona Academy.

“This year’s event will also feature mentorship session for the girls, including a medical health day for the girl-child, while there will also be an all-star game, where top Nigerian celebrities will face off with Super Eagles all-stars (including some ex-internationals,” P.M. EXPRESS was informed on Wednesday.

Highlights of this year’s event include sensitization on the danger faced by a girl child through puberty, adolescence to adulthood. Distribution of sanitary pads and toiletries.

“Education is key so as sports and combining both together will help develop a girl child. The plan is that this year’s edition won’t be limited only to sports and education alone. A medical day has been set aside by Emzor Pharmaceuticals to help the girls work on their hygiene and we will share 1,000 face masks and sanitary pads to the girls.”

As the Football4grils event reached its 6th edition this year, the reigning African women footballer of the year, Oshoala was elated that she could impact positively into the life of Nigerian girls in her own little way with the Foundation and her corporate supporters.

She told Premium Times in a recent interview that: “I feel really happy with what we are doing, each time we have the programme every year, I sit down on the side to look at the girls, and deep down I know I never had the chance they are enjoying while I was growing up.

“We are doing our bit to change the mentality of the parents about their girl children interested in football. We made them see their children can play football and still go to school. This is what majorly obtains in Europe, some of the players we even play against are still in school, so we want that here too.

“I am really happy the Foundation is growing. We’ve produced a couple of players that have even represented the national team, but we are not making noise about that because we are not preoccupied with seeking attention. Our main goal is to see that we create bigger opportunities for these young players.”