Rivers, Edo, others battle for NNPC-Shell Cup semi-finals ticket

Students of the Calvary International School, Port Harcourt will be trading tackles with their counterparts from the Rochas Foundation College, Owerri, and the National College, Nike, Enugu State at the Sagamu Centre in one of the quarterfinal groups for the 2015 NNPC-Shell Cup.

A statement, Monday, by the organisers, the Nigeria Schools Sports Federation, listed 10 teams making it to the quarterfinals among the 33 that slugged it out at the zonal preliminaries held nationwide in the last week of April. The quarterfinals are slated for May 9-10.

At the Centre Two in Port Harcourt, students of Adeola Odutola College, Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, will be engaging the Rezheight High School, Benin team for a semifinal ticket; while at the Centre Three in Minna, Niger State, the battle for a semifinal place will be among Government Secondary School, Keffi in Nasarawa; Government Day Secondary School, Kofar Yandaka in Katsina; and Government Secondary School, Gwale in Kano.

The fourth quarterfinal contest will be in Kaduna where the students of the Government Technical College, Yola in Adamawa will be challenging the team from Army Day Secondary School, Sokoto.

Speaking on the quarterfinal matches, Sustainable Development and Community Relations Manager of the Shell Petroleum Development Company, sponsors of the tournament since inception, describe this phase of the tournament as significant.

“The next stage will expose the semifinalists and their coaches to advanced coaching sessions to be handled by foreign technical team from the Feyenoord Academy of the Netherlands, a world renowned youth football talent factory,” Weli said, adding that the partnership with Feyenoord was to expose the players and their coaches to international coaching experience while expanding the opportunities for Nigerian youths.

The semi-final and the final matches are slated for May 22 and 24 respectively at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.