Message from the Honourable Commissioner.

We are all agreed that if there is one thing that unites and excites the Nation, that that thing is FOOTBALL. Sometimes, somewhere, we have all played the game and we still love the game.

The Governor of Lagos State has approved the establishment of “Street Soccer Champions” a grassroots revolutionary project. The Street Soccer Champions has as its main objectives:

• To formalize grassroots football
• To create value for the unappreciated and untapped talent at the grassroots
• To provide employment opportunities for thousands of our people
• To create Local Stars, as a means of an overall development of Football
• To increase national interest in football through audience participation via television and GSM
• To socially engage our young people and redirect their energy for crime to sports
• To generate funds for other sports and for the sustainable maintenance of the massive infrastructure programme of Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola

The possibilities arising from the Street Soccer Champions are endless and the trickle down effects are awesome. These include, but not limited to:

• Registration of at least 100,000 teams
• Licensing of over 1,000,000 players and official
• Sponsorship deals and branding in over 345 playing centres in the State
• Direct employment for thousands of cleaners, grounds men, security officials, match officials
• Indirect employment of hundreds of thousands of people
• Millions of Naira to be won through predictive text messages and other audience participatory side attractions
• Stimulating a Local Transfer Market

Participation is as easy as ABC/123. Anybody and I mean anybody can and should own a team or more than one team. Individual, groups, clubs, churches, mosque, aspiring councilors, chairmen, politicians and non politicians, corporate bodies, social clubs and virtual everyone are invited to be part of this project.

There is no limitation to the number of teams per street. All you have to do is;

• Go to any branch of the selected Bank closest to you and buy a voucher at NGN2,000.00
• Go online at a cyber café, your private internet access and any access available to you and visit www.streetsoccerchampions.com
• Open the Registration Page and follow online instructions
• Your registration Certificate will be forwarded to you within two days

To create and maintain our Database, each player and official is expected to be licensed to enable them be part of Street Soccer Champions. Licenses cost NGN1, 000.00 and come in form of digitalize plastic I.D. Card. To be licensed, purchase a voucher from the selected banks and go to the License Page of the website and fill in your particulars. Your license will be delivered to you within four days.

To engender the emergence of the best at every stage, transfer and registration of players will be allowed throughout the competition, at a cost of NGN2, 000.00 per registration/transfer. To enable some form of professionalism, Agents will be registered to help facilitate these transfers and identification of local talents. License Fee for Agent is fixed at NGN20,000.00.

To further stimulate Public Interest and Audience Participation, the Public will be engaged through Live TV Shows and GSM through various programmes. These include;

• GSM voting for MVP, best goals, best players, best behaved team/community etc
• Prediction of Match Results from games at every stage
• Prediction of a combination of results at the Group League Stage
• Any other project approved by the Committee on Street Soccer Champions

To ensure a successful championship, a number of committees have been put in place and these are

• Council of Legends of Football headed by Chief Segun Odegbami (MON)- to maintain the integrity of the Championships
• Rules and Appeal Committee headed by Godson Uti
• The Sponsorship Committee headed by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Youth Sports and Social
• The Management Committee headed Alhaji Tajudeen Oladeji
• Referees’ Committee headed by Mr. Tade
• The Security Committee headed by Mr. Dotun Olaribigbe
• The Publicity Committee headed by Mr. Yomi Opakunle
• The Facilities Committee headed by Mr. Bolaji Yusuf

All these committees are coordinated by the Main Organising Committee headed by the HC (YSSD) and the SA (YSSD) as Vice Chairman with all Chairmen of the 8 committees as members. The Marketing Consultant and the Chairman Marketing Sub-Committee join the MOC.

While street soccer is not new, the present initiative is novel and is by no means exhaustive. We therefore appeal to members of the public to study the format and make contributions to making the Street Soccer Champions sustainable

In Street Soccer “Everyone is a Winner”. Let’s Play.