The official unveiling ceremony of Naija Super 8 football competition will be held on Friday, 26 May, at the SuperSport Studios in Lagos. This was disclosed by Flykite Productions, organisers of the competition, in a statement issued on Monday.
According to the statement, the ceremony will, among other things, witness the reveal of the 12 football clubs, two from each of the country’s six geo-political zones, billed to participate in the zonal play-offs, the first stage of the tournament. The six winners of the single-match zonal duels, billed to hold from 23-25 June at Eket Township Stadium in Akwa Ibom State, will qualify for the Naija Super 8 finals to be held from 7-16 July at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, where they will be joined by two wildcard entries.
To be unveiled per zone, two teams must have polled the highest number of fan votes during the voting exercise managed by internationally-reputed audit firm, Deloitte. Additionally, the ceremony will also witness the reveal of the tournament rules, team mentors, who are distinguished ex-Nigeria internationals; as well as sponsors of and partners to Naija Super 8.
Jenkins Alumona, Managing Director, Flykite Productions, explained that the ceremony will officially kick off Naija Super 8, as it will give a clearer picture of other elements of the competition.
“This is the first-ever football competition in the country that has given the fans, the actual owners of the game, a major say in determining participating clubs through their votes. Voting began on 10 April and closed on 12 May, with the process managed by Deloitte, the world-class audit firm, to ensure its fidelity. Two clubs with the highest vote tallies from each geo-political zone, as declared by the auditors, will go into the play-offs to determine the representatives of each zone. They will be announced at the ceremony,” he explained.
Alumona added that team mentors, who are ex-internationals and will function as unofficial team leaders of clubs participating at the finals, will also be unveiled. So will be the tournament rules as well as sponsors and partners of Naija Super 8.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on SuperSport Variety 4 (channel 209) on DStv and SuperSport Select 2 (channel 64) on GOtv.