ARS 4: Final Draws To Hold On Friday

Lagos, Nigeria; 23rd July 2014: Ahead of the national finals of Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) Season 4, organisers of the youth football tournament and leading telecommunications operator, Airtel Nigeria has announced that final draws for the boys and girls categories of the football tournament will be held on Friday.

The draws, scheduled to take place at Zen Garden, GRA, Ikeja, will be supervised by officials of the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria, (YSFON), representatives of Airtel, the tournament organizers and coaches of the participating teams.

The four-day national finals is scheduled to hold between Wednesday, July 30 and Saturday, August 2, at the Yaba College of Technology (YabaTech) Sports Complex, Lagos, and will will parade exciting football actions and thrills from boys and girls representing 31 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

The five zonal champions representing Lagos, Kwara, Enugu, Abuja and Port Harcourt are set for battle in the crucial encounters which will ultimately produce the national champion. The Female Team Lagos and Male Team Oyo are representing Lagos, while Kwara is represented by the boys and girls of Team Kwara.

Enugu Zone is represented by White Chiefs FC (male category) and White Princesses FC (female category) picked the tickets to the National Finals, while the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) boys team and Plateau State girls team will fly Abuja's flag at the Finals. Port Harcourt Team is representing Port Harcourt in both the male and female categories.

As part of activities for Season 4, Airtel had earlier appointed ex-internationals Mutiu Adepoju, Garba Lawal, Ann Chiejine, Chioma Ajunwa-Oparah and Peter Rufai as technical advisers and mentors to the boys and girls teams.

Ex-Super Eagle goalie, Peter Rufai serves as technical adviser to the Lagos Zone which comprises teams from Ogun, Lagos, Oyo and Edo. While Mutiu Adepoju serves as technical adviser to the Kwara Zone which has participants from Ekiti, Ondo, Osun and Kwara States.

Ann Chiejine serves as mentor to the Enugu zone which has players drawn from Imo, Abia, Enugu and Anambra States, while Rivers, Cross Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Delta which are under Port Harcourt has Chioma Ajunwa-Oparah as mentor. Garba Lawal serves as adviser to Abuja zone which has Nassarawa, Kogi, Plateau, Niger and Kaduna States.

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.