By David Owei,Bayelsa
\nThe Nationwide League One has confirmed that Bayelsa Starlets Academy will participate in the 2026 National League One (NLO) U-19 Youth League
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\n\u200eThe confirmation, contained in a letter by the league body, and titled “Confirmation of Status of Bayelsa Starlets Football Academy (U-19 Youth League)”, was signed by the Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Olushola Ogunnowo.<\/p>\n
According to the letter, the Bayelsa Starlets Academy, which is affiliated to FC Barcelona of Spain, Technical Advisers to the Bayelsa Governor’s Football Tournament, took over the slot of De-Gideon FC of Abuja.
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\n\u200eThe letter further stated that the club, being an affiliate of the Bayelsa State Football Association, shall play all its home matches in Bayelsa State and operate in line with league statutes, except where the NLO Congress directs otherwise.<\/p>\n
According to the letter dated Thursday, 21st of May, 2026, “The Nationwide League One Secretariat hereby confirms that the above-named Football Academy, affiliated to the Bayelsa State Football Association, will from the 2026 season, join the Nationwide League One, U-19 Youth League. The Academy took over the slot of De-Gideon FC of Abuja.<\/p>\n
“The Nationwide League One Secretariat has received the details of the transaction between both parties and can confirm that De-Gideon has no known liabilities”.
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\n\u200eThe letter advised the Academy to liaise with the Bayelsa State Football Association for further information regarding players\u2019 registration and other documentation required for participation in the 2026 NLO season.
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\n\u200eReacting to the development, the Chief Executive Officer of Bayelsa Startlets Academy and Director General of the Prosperity Cup, Mr Ono Akpe, said the news reflects the government’s commitment towards giving the youths in the State a better life through sports, maintaining that the NLO U-19 Youth League would open another chapter for young players in the State.
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\n\u200eAccording to him, screening for the Bayelsa Starlets Academy commenced immediately after the season 8 of the Bayelsa Governor’s Football Tournament, under the supervision of a FIFA renowed instructor and Technical Adviser, Coach Edema Fuludu, ably assisted by Ebezener Atayero and other experienced coaches, pointing out that all the players in the academy are products of the just-concluded edition of the Bayelsa Governor’s Football Tournament tagged, the Prosperity Cup.
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\n\u200eHe noted that he was pleased with the growing confidence of the players in the team, stating that the momentum in the team reflects the commitment and determination of the lads.
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\n\u200eMr Akpe commended the governor, Senator Douye Diri, the deputy governor, Dr Peter Akpe the Commissioner for Sports Development, Dr Daniel Igali for investing in the youths through sports, stressing that the governor’s passion for sports development was the reason behind the tournament’s success story. <\/p>\n
He also saluted the lead sponsors of the tournament Premium Trust Bank for their commitment to sports development saying ” the commitment and support of Premium Trust Bank to sports development is unprecedented and must be commended across the country. We salute the Chief Executive and Managing Director Dr Emmanuel Emefienim and the entire bank for thier faith in the youths of Bayelsa, the Niger Delta and Nigeria as a whole”
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\n\u200eIt will be recalled that the Bayelsa Starlets Academy, founded in 2019, and now upgraded and expanded, participated in the African Youth Championship in Cape Verde where they finished third among international clubs, and later went on to win the Bayelsa State League in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Owei,Bayelsa The Nationwide League One has confirmed that Bayelsa Starlets Academy will participate in the 2026 National League One (NLO) U-19 Youth League \u200e \u200eThe confirmation, contained in a letter by the league body, and titled “Confirmation of Status of Bayelsa Starlets Football Academy (U-19 Youth League)”, was signed by the Chief Operating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14065"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14066,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14065\/revisions\/14066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}