By David Owei,Bayelsa<\/p>\n
Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has charged participating teams in the Bayelsa United\/Prosperity Cup Pre-season Tournament to see the competition as a stepping stone to promising careers.<\/p>\n
Governor Diri gave the charge shortly after declaring the tournament open at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, immediately after the weekly Prosperity Walk.<\/p>\n
Represented by Deputy Governor, Dr. Peter Akpe, the governor urged players to take full advantage of the pre-season tournament. He said the competition was conceived to nurture talents for possible recruitment into Bayelsa United.<\/p>\n
Noting that grassroots development remains a veritable platform for talent discovery, Diri said the government remains committed to seeing Bayelsa United return to the Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL, next season. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur charge still remains to return to the Premier League. And in doing so, don\u2019t forget sports development. Get Bayelsans involved,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
The governor also commended the interim board for starting on the right trajectory with the pre-season tournament, which he described as aimed at discovering generational stars for the future. He urged them not to rest on their oars until the goal is achieved.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Interim Board of Bayelsa United, Dr. Peter Singabele, said the purpose of the tournament is to discover home-grown talents to be integrated into the new Bayelsa United squad ahead of the new season.<\/p>\n
According to him, players will be selected carefully by a team of coaches assembled by the board to identify talent during the tournament. He added that the board would not interfere with the process.<\/p>\n
He explained that a technical committee of coaches with proven records has been appointed to monitor the tournament. The committee\u2019s report will be analyzed by its head, Mr. Godson Ekadi, while a final screening will be supervised by Head Coach, Abdul Maikaba.<\/p>\n
Also speaking, Head of the Technical Committee and member of the interim board, Mr. Godson Ekadi, said the board is committed to giving home-grown talents the opportunity to realize their potential.<\/p>\n
Hostilities began on Thursday with Bayelsa United Feeders edging Mountain of the Lord Deliverance Ministry, MLDM FC, 1-0. <\/p>\n
Krosaders FC were ruthless in a 5-0 thrashing of Federal University, Otuoke, FUO Kings FC, to top Group A. <\/p>\n
In the match of the day, NDU Oilers FC came from behind twice to defeat 2026 Prosperity Cup finalists, Akinima\/Biogbo, 3-2. Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, MFM FC, also defeated AJ Inter Soccer Academy 1-0.<\/p>\n
Hostilites continue on Friday, 24th July, 2026, when Bayelsa Starlets face AJ Inter SA at 10.00am. Group A will see Brazil FC go up against Krosaders FC at Noon. NDU Oilers entertain Erema Jackson of Port Harcourt in group C at 2.00pm, while Grassroots FC welcome Bayelsa United Feeders in the last game at 4.00pm
\n\u200e
\n\u200eAll matches will be decided at the Samson Siasia Stadium, Yenagoa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By David Owei,Bayelsa Bayelsa State Governor, Senator Douye Diri, has charged participating teams in the Bayelsa United\/Prosperity Cup Pre-season Tournament to see the competition as a stepping stone to promising careers. Governor Diri gave the charge shortly after declaring the tournament open at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenagoa, immediately after the weekly Prosperity Walk. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15865,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864","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=15864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15866,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15864\/revisions\/15866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}