Maracana Stadium Agog for South-west U13 Football Tourney Today

The newly-built Maracana Stadium in Ajeromi Ifelodun Local Council area of Lagos State comes alive today as teams battle for honours at the South West U-13 football championships.

The tournament which is meant to be used to test the facilities at Maracana Sports Centre which is being upgraded by the Nathaniel Idowu Foundation is a one-day championship with boys and girls teams jostling for laurels.

Already, the foundation has completed eight medium and 10 mini Astroturf football pitches while work is ongoing on the international standard football pitch which will be commissioned later in the year.

The football pitches accommodate seven-a-side football matches being the first time Lagos would have 19 football pitches side by side at the same location.

A member of Nathaniel Idowu Foundation, Adedotun Coker said the foundation was planning big for football development in Lagos while arrangements had been concluded to test the facilities with the one-day event.

“The arena is almost completed in the sense that once we complete the standard pitch, it is then we can say we are through with the facilities. Presently all the seven-a-side pitches are ready for use. There is a well-research thought process and the foundation deemed it fit to turn Maracana Stadium into a world-class sporting arena,” he said.

For the one-day tournament, Coker said they were expecting 128 teams as well as hosting a South West U-13 football tournament.

“These facilities would be put to test on May 7 before the final inauguration of the arena soonest. We are looking at 128 teams including two teams each from southwest states. The essence of this one-day football event is to put the facilities to test so that we can identify areas we should work on before the day of commissioning,” Coker said.

The newly refurbished Maracana Sports Centre has hostels, a media centre, conference room, changing rooms, an indoor hall, and a clinic.