Almost 4 years ago, I had to walk away from an incredibly meaningful work in Nigeria’s collegiate sports. One I had unwaveringly dedicated 4 years earlier to co-build and lead.
For a country with lots of talented student-athletes, our young have been consistently deprived of credible opportunities to dream, play sports and thrive. We were solving a deep-rooted and daunting national problem.
Runs full circle to share that I have founded Varsity Cup 🇳🇬, the annual national university football championships for Nigeria’s best men’s and women’s university teams and will be leading it with the active support of the powerful Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA).
Like my unflinching faith in our youth, Varsity Cup 🇳🇬 reflects a strong pro student-athlete stance. Alongside other financial benefits, scholarships and professional career opportunities, we will be rewarding outstanding players in every game with the sum of N100,000 (totalling over $2000) and carefully position them for the right attention.
I am very humbled by how fast and seamless the partnership process was. It was completed and signed in a couple of days!
Grateful to my bosses and mentors at NUGA for their vision and faith in my abilities, especially the President, Engr. M.A. Bawa and Technical Chairman, Prof. M.G. Yakasai who kept in touch and remained persistent that there was still a lot of work to do in building the future of collegiate sports.
With my current commitment in higher ed with Landa (Spring '23), it was important to answer 3 important questions before also taking on this impactful venture:
1. What level of competition delivers the most value to talented student-athletes and universities with great sports programs?
2. Can the competition be sustainable and viable from year 1?
3. How inclusive can this competition be in consistently empowering both male and female athletes?
Our most exciting news is the 2025 season of Varsity Cup Women’s Football, right after we complete the Men’s Cup this year. This is a personal dream come true.
And you as a fan can get to enjoy these Varsity fireworks of football games right on your phone live via YouTube and Facebook!
Want to support our work, please refer to our deck here: https://lnkd.in/d-rsS-Fp
More exciting updates soon. 🙏 #2024VarsityCup
It's official! We are partnering the Nigerian University Games Association (NUGA) from the 2024 season of the Varsity Cup Men's Football tournament.
With this partnership, we will be able to engage all participating universities seamlessly while enjoying proven technical and logistics support. This is a major step in achieving our mission to build a viable platform for Nigeria’s brightest student-athletes to thrive.
#VarsityCup #CollegiateFootball
#NUGA #Football #SportsInnovation
#StudentAthletes
