The Nigeria Professional Football League’s top two teams, Enyimba of Aba and Shooting Stars of Ibadan, have announced their preparedness for the upcoming Eko International Cup preseason football competition.
The eagerly awaited preseason football competition is expected to host eight teams in total, with a few teams from other regions of Africa also participating.
The Aba Elephants are prepared for the competition scheduled to take place at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos from July 6–13, according to David Orji, Enyimba’s media officer.
Orji said: “The team resumed camp earlier than scheduled just to be ready for this pre-season tournament because of the rich pedigree it entails.
” We accepted the invitation to part of this because it will help in the overall preparation of the team for the new season.
“We have new players in our fold that the technical people will evaluate for the challenges ahead and the Eko International Cup is a good avenue to do that and even lots more.”
The same is true for Tosin Omojola, Shooting Stars of Ibadan’s media officer.
“Our team is eager to get going with the Eko International Cup as our own curtain raiser for the new season.
“The players are working hard to make the first team of the coaches and the competition level is very intense in camp.
“We resumed two weeks ago and we have a friendly match billed for Thursday July 3rd as part of the preparations for the pre-season tourney in Lagos,” Omojola said.
Ikorodu City and Remo Stars are two other NPFL teams anticipated to compete in the competition.
Two teams are anticipated to travel from other regions of Africa, and the organisers will reveal two more domestic teams in the coming days.
They are Ghana’s Accra Hearts of Oak and Sierra Leone’s FC Kallon.
The local organising committee for the event has been occupied with the logistics of hosting the teams from other regions of the continent, according to Onome Obruthe, Executive Director, Publicity and Strategy for the Local Organising Committee of the EIC.
“We are aware of the task ahead and we are excited about the responses from various quarters about the tournament. The countdown is on and we look forward to an exciting display in Lagos,” Obruthe said.