Emma Jemegah
The 2019 African Freestyle Football Championship will be bigger and better than the two previous editions, the organisers have promised.
The finals of this year’s championship, which was sanctioned by the World Freestyle Football Association and fully endorsed by WFFA co-founder, Daniel Wood, will take place at the Balmoral Convention Centre, Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos on September 14 and 15.
The organisers and rights holders of the competition, Feet & Tricks International explained some of the improvements to the tournament during a press conference in Lagos yesterday. “We’re excited to have started the drive to pave a new direction for freestyle football in Africa,” Feet & Tricks International Chairman, Valentine Ozigbo said during the press conference. “In this year’s edition, we expect at least 30 African countries to be represented and many have already registered.
We will work on the continuous development of African freestyle talent and continually exploit all available resources to create more awareness for the sport and we’re grateful to our sponsors and partners.”
Ozigbo explained that for the first time in the championship, there would be regional competitions to determine Nigeria’s representatives in the finals.
These regional competitions will take place in Lagos (Rowe Park) on June 22 for the Southwest zone, Warri (Brownhill Event Centre) on June 30, Owerri (Cubana Lounge) for the Southeast zone on July 5 and Abuja (Central Park) on July 13.
Registration for the event is open to both male and female freestylers.
Broadcast partners of the event, StarTimes estimated a combined 30 million audience from their mobile app and cable television from across Africa to tune in for the championship.
StarTimes Nigeria’s Public Relations Manager, Kunmbi Balogun, said the African Freestyle Football Championship drew around 15 million viewers from across the continent in 2018.