The Biggest sporting event in Corporate Nigeria is set to kick off with the draws having taken place on Friday 16th August 2013 at the glamorous Intercontinental Hotel, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island. Lagos.
The cream de la cream of corporate Nigeria was present at the draws. Amongst those present at the draws included Olumide Hassan of Alcatel-Lucent, Ayodele Aburo (Unilever), Dean Okwuchemiya (Nem Insurance), Mohammed Asuku (Ericsson) Sola Bankole (Guiness) Francis Ihejirika (Nestle), Sophia Sankey (Huawei).
The bankers were also out in full with the occasion blessed with the presence of the likes of Hall of Famers Kayode Mustapha Abdulrasheed (Skye Bank), Kayode Agbalaja (Fidelity Bank), Funlola Oni (Standard Chartered Bank), MuyiwaAwodiran (Ecobank). Also present was Kola Salaam of FCMB. Others who graced the occasion were Peter Nwachukwu (UBA), Alex Udeh (Stanbic-IBTC), Bashir Salami (Skye Bank), Akeem Mustapha (FCMB) amongst others.
It was exciting as the bankers mingled and reminisced over events that transpired over the years and looked forward to this year’s event.
It was boasts galore as representatives of each bank claimed that victory would be theirs this year.
The draws proper saw 12 banks going into the pot for places in the 2 groups. Skye Bank and UBA were seeded and both went into group A and B respectively. Group A had Skye Bank, First Bank, Fidelity Bank, FCMB, Keystone and Mainstreet Bank whilst Group B has UBA Group, Enterprise Bank, Ecobank, Standard Chartered Bank, Sterling Bank and Union Bank.
The opening game of the competition would be between Skye bank and First Bank. When they met last year it ended 2-1 in favour of Skye Bank. UBA Group plays Enterprise Bank in its first game.
Some fixtures to look forward to in the group stage include Skye Bank versus Fidelity Bank, FCMB and Keystone Bank. The last time Skye Bank played these teams it drew with Fidelity Bank, lost to FCMB and Keystone Bank (Then known as Bank PHB). Group B also throws up interesting fixtures like UBA versus StanChart, Ecobank, Sterling Bank. The last time it played these teams, it drew with Stanchart, beat Ecobank 2-1 and Sterling Bank 3-2 via penalties.
The competition is expected to kick off on the 7th of September as Skye Bank looks to become the 1st bank to win the football title 3 times in a row.
Fela is the Co-founder of MediaVision Limited .
