By Saheed Afolabi
Convener of the Afusat Olabimpe Abiodun Female Gold Cup, Adeoye Abiodun has revealed the impacts and positivity of organizing the women’s football competition.
Abiodun said the competition has been a huge impact to the lives of young aspiring professional women football players. He disclosed that the competition have been a talent breeding ground where past players have gone to represent Nigeria at the national team level while some have played professionally in Nigeria and in foreign countries.
The sport administrator added, the previous edition MVP was provided an international exposure to continue her career in foreign land. While the reason the competition came into existence is to keep the girl child busy with a productive competition and play an active part in safeguarding them from being molested.
“The impact of the Afusat Olabimpe Abiodun Female Gold Cup has been commendable. We started the first edition with 12 teams, second edition was increased to 16 teams and the third edition was 16 teams. We also have the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament in 2022 Mosaku Bisola went on to represent Nigeria at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in India. We have seen so many of the players gone out to represent Nigeria and play professionally in the Nigeria League and in foreign leagues.
“One of the big things we did this year was to tag the price money for the MVP to get international exposure to foreign clubs. We got a FIFA licensed agent from Saudi Arabia to come for the competition and by extension to take the player for exposure or get the player outside the country. So it’s a breeding ground for clubs in Nigeria and also a breeding ground for national team coaches to scout for players.
“The reason the competition was organized is, one of the things I felt we can do for the society is to encourage the players to develop at their own pace and poverty level, crime level will reduce and people can aspire to become great in life. My inspiration is to make sure people can become who they want to be in life just like Asisat Oshoala, Rasheedat Ajibade and also retirement set out their own business or work for big companies just like Seyi Olofinjana who after retirement is still making waves.
“We also want to get rid of girls been molested and to keep them busy and make them achieve something in life, that’s why we directed our focus to the women.”
Adeoye stated the competition is born in memory of his late mother who is a women’s advocate and organizing the tournament is a way to immortalize and honor her.
“The tournament is done in honor of my late mother, Afusat Olabimpe Abiodun. She’s a strong women’s advocate in the community and it’s just a way to immortalize her and keep her in memory.”
