Ilaji Resort To Host Sixteen African Countries In Continental Mini-Football Nations Cup

Not less than Sixteen African Countries have confirmed their readiness to participate in the forthcoming Africa Mini-Football Nations Cup slated to hold between July 8 to July 17 at Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, Oloyo Village, Akanran Ibadan, Oyo State.

This declaration was made by the President of African Minifootball Confederation, Mr Achraf Ben Salha during a World Press Conference which was held on Wednesday at the Conference Room of Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort.

According to Mr Achraf Ben Salha, “the countries include the defending champion (Ivory Coast),
Nigeria (the host nation), Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, Benin and Zambia,.
The rest are Egypt, Somalia, South Africa, Djibouti, Libya, Burkina Faso, Mali and Algeria”.

The President stated that the winner of the competition will represent Africa at the World Minifootball competition Cup slated for Ukraine in 2022.

Comenting on the level of preparedness and the standard of the facilities at Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, the venue of the competition, Mr. Achraf rated the facilities as well as the newly built Mini-Football stadium at the Resort as good for the tournament just as he assured a hitch-free tournament.

Achraf disclosed that, “The first time I met President of the Nigerian Minifootball Association (NMA), Honourable Oluyemi Adewale, he said to me, I want to start the activities in Nigeria by organising a Minifootball competition, he said we can do it and I’m here now to check whether the dream is yes or no but It is a reality.”

“As you know the tournament is scheduled for last year but due to COVID-19 pandemic, the airports were closed, so many African countries were asking if Nigeria is truly ready for the tournament, I’m live here in Nigeria to say yes, they are ready”.

“The tournament will start between July 8-17 where 16 teams will participate and the winner will go to Ukraine for Minifootball World Cup in 2022. The draws will hold on June 9 in this very nice place, Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, Ibadan and I will like to congratulate the CEO of Ilaji, Engineer Dotun Sanusi for hosting the rest of African countries.

“This is a very nice place to be, I have visited many countries of the world and never I saw magnificent place like this place (Ilaji Sports Resort), I’m very happy to be here. The stadium facilities are welcome and we are good to go,” he said.

In his address, Honourable Adewale said “We have been around since Sunday to host our President, Mr Achraf Ben Salha in Abuja and we made a visitation to National Assembly to interface with House Committee on Sports and Senate Committee on Sports and the meeting went well with assurance that they are ready to support the brand new game of Minifootball.

“We are not an antagonist to conventional football. Rather, Minifootball should be a veritable avenue for the conventional football to tap from because this is a game that involves on pure skill. We can get as many as Austin Okocha, Mutiu Adepoju, Daniel Amokachi, Finidi George, Kanu Nwankwo of this world from the game of Minifootball,” he said

In his remark, Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort, Prince Adesina Araoye said facilities were fully ready for the tournament saying Engineer Sanusi is a passionate about sports.

“From the tour of facilities Mr Achraf Ben Salha had, he has acknowledged the fact we are fully prepared except for minor things we need to tidy up.

“Based on the assessment and based on confirmation that Ilaji Hotels and Sports Resort will be the venue of this competition, we have accepted the responsibility to provide our facilities and beyond that, we are going to get fully involved in ensuring we have a very exciting and hitch free and better tournament than the first edition”, Araoye said