.As work begins on Uyo stadium pitch
By George Aluo
Nigerian football fans who would be in Uyo to cheer the Super Eagles in the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier against Algeria next month should be prepared to pay good money to purchase their match ticket.
Daily Sunsports gathered exclusively yesterday that the nation’s soccer governing body, NFF and the Akwa Ibom State Government have resolved to hike the cost of tickets for the match as one of the crowd control measures they are putting in place ahead of the big game.
It would be noted that the Uyo Nest of Champion was filled to the brim when the Eagles hosted Tanzania there last month in match that was only a dead rubber.
Against Algeria, the NFF is envisaging that it would be a full house and is already taking steps to ensure that there wont be a repeat of what happened in Kaduna when Nigeria hosted Egypt in a Nations Cup qualifier. It is recalled that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) fined the NFF for allowing the Ahmadu Bello Stadium to be over crowded.
A competent NFF source disclosed last night that the crowd issue topped the agenda of the NFF, Akwa Ibom State Government meeting held last week in Uyo.
“The NFF leadership and the Akwa Ibom State government officials have been meeting to ensure a smooth organization of the November 12 match. One thing I can tell you is that ticket for the match wont be cheap. They want to ensure that the stadium is not over crowded,” our source disclosed.
Meanwhile, work has commenced apace on the pitch of the stadium ahead of the match.
The NFF confirmed this much yesterday in a release made available to Daily Sunsports.
“In line with the NFF’s promise to get the Akwa Ibom State Government to work on the turf, following some complaints by Super Eagles’ players after last month’s 2017 Cup of Nations qualifier against Tanzania, the NFF wrote to Governor Udom Emmanuel on the issue and followed up with a first inspection of the pitch on Saturday,” the NFF stated in the release.
“A second inspection has been fixed for Tuesday, 25th October 2016 while the final inspection will come up on Wednesday, 2nd November 2016,” the NFF further disclosed.