Grassroots football federating bodies, the Youth Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON) and the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF) have thrown their full weight behind the Airtel Rising Stars soccer tournament, describing the programme as a positive development which will empower talented young people across the country to succeed as professional footballers.

Speaking, recently in Lagos, at a media event to announce the commencement of the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) 2, National President of the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), Mallam Ibrahim Mohammed described the ARS initiative as timely and strategic for development of grassroots football just as he commended Airtel for initiating and sustaining a robust programme that has impacted positively ontalented, young boys and girls.

According to Mallam Mohammed, the NSSF is “particularly happy that Airtel is providing the opportunity to discover and nurture our young ones into future stars. If a company like Airtel does not come to our aid, it will be extremely difficult for us to succeed in our efforts to help our gifted youngsters.

National Secretary, Youths Sports Federation of Nigeria (YSFON), Patrick Okpavuerhe urged the telecoms operator not to relent in its efforts at developing grassroots football across the nation, noting that the ARS initiative is coming at the right time.

“We were encouraged and motivated by the support we received from Airtel with the maiden edition of ARS. The company displayed a lot of passion and commitment in their efforts to develop our grass-root football. Indeed, we are also happy that the telecoms operator has elected to increase its scope of support for this year’s edition of the Airtel Rising Stars. With this kind of support, we will definitely get it right as far as soccer is concerned in Nigeria,” he said.

Meanwhile, tournament organizer and sponsor, Airtel Nigeria, said the Airtel Rising Stars tournament is aimed at building and sustaining a rich pool of football talents for future national teams.