Dr Olukoya Youth Football tourney kicks off Friday

By Taofeek Babalola

The annual Dr D. K. Olukoya International Youth Football Competition kicks off on Friday at the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) University training pitch, Prayer City, along Lagos-Ibadan Express Way.

The 6th edition of the tourney which will hold for three weeks will commence from 9 am every day.

The organisers said solid arrangements have been made for the accommodation and feeding of the participating teams from 40 regions of MFM.

The Regional Overseer, MFM Headquarters, who also doubles as the Chairman Sports Committee, Pastor Fredrick Alewi stated that the competition is being organised to reposition the youths, revive their spiritual lives and seek God’s favour in their chosen careers.

Pastor Alewi said the competition will also provide an opportunity to discover more players that would be inducted into the MFM Football Club.

‘In accordance with the General Overseer’s (Dr D K Olukoya) mandate, which is a 70-point agenda, and one of it is Youths Re-positioning- to ensure that youths do not waste away on the streets - that was why the competition was established. And for a while now the competition has been very successful,” Alewi said.

He added: “And most of the youths discovered through this competition are not only useful to themselves, but are useful to their family and on the pitch. To the glory of God, the purpose of the competition has been achieved in the sense that, the youths rather than sitting down somewhere, taking harmful drugs, are now doing something useful for themselves.

“The competition is not for business-making but to reposition the youths. Most of the players in the national U17, U20 came from MFM Youth Football Competition, from this competition our coaching crew of MFM will be on the ground during the competition to scout for good players that can fit in into the main team. We have a lot of players that have left the club and we need replacements and this is an opportunity for the coaching crew to discover new players.”

The Super Eagles and Leicester City FC of England midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, Akwa United midfielder Ifeanyi Ifeanyi, Abia Warriors’ Atu Irumekhai and Ifeanyi George of Rangers International of Enugu, were some of the players discovered from the tournament.