Football

With the conclusion of World Cup Germany, football has now shifted attention to Africa, South Africa 2010. The very fact that it is to hold in Africa has increased the chances that an African nation can win the world’s most celebrated sports trophy. And who else has the chances but Nigeria, acknowledged as one of the countries with the largest concentration of football talents in the world.

In the past, many students in Nigeria had dropped out of school to play football. The Shell Cup is to ensure that talented youths are able to combine education with developing their football skills and career. Over 3,000 schools across the country participate in each edition of the championship. By investing some N30 million a year in the championship, we hope to give more young men the opportunity of participating in and enjoying the sport.

The championship has been a massive success as players in the competition have continued to receive national and international exposure.

The antecedents are already fairly well-known. In its eight years of existence, the championship has continually contributed to the national pool of talents from which national team players from all levels are drawn.

The exploits of Promise Isaac, Chinedu Ogbuike, Solomon Okoronkwo and Ambros Vanzekin, four Shell Cup alumni at the last world Youth Championship, where the under-21 team narrowly missed the gold, remain unparalleled in Nigeria's football annals. When you add the fact that these boys graduated from the under-16 team where they had featured along with Emmanuel Sarki and that many of them are playing in major football leagues aborad, it is easy to see why Shell Cup has to be in the vanguard of preparation for the next World Cup.

That is why Shell Nigeria will leave no stone unturned to keep Shell Cup continually alive to its emerging responsibility as the nation's foremost football nursery.

See the NNPC-Shell Cup 2009 Update