2nd 1960Bet Gold Cup Final And Signing Of Stationery Stores Sponsorship Deal.

The 2nd edition of 1960BET Gold Cup commenced on the 16th of March 2014 at the King George V stadium popularly known as Onikan Stadium Lagos.

The competition is a grassroots CSR initiative of Winners Bookmaker Nigeria Limited, the operators of 1960BET, the
No. 1 high street bookmaker in Nigeria aimed at positively engaging the youths and providing massive opportunities for discovery and nurturing of talents. The tourney fashioned as the Mock World Cup attracted 32 teams from within Lagos and its environs, which included a team from Abeokuta. The teams were divided into eight groups of (4) four teams each, with the first two teams qualifying for the 2nd round.

The Preliminary matches took place in 4 different Centres namely:

*Jalinsco field in Oshodi,

* LASPARK pitch in Otto Ijora

* Coker Stadium in Orile

*Railway Recreational field in Ebute Metta.

In the opening match between the defending champions Lagos Island West and Ikorodu East, it ended 0-3 in favour of the Ikorodu East team with Abiola Afowope scoring the first goal of the tournament after the first half ended goalless.

At the end of the first round of matches, the following teams qualified into the second round:

Group A: Abeokuta and Ojuelegba

Group B: Ebute Metta West and Mosafejo

Group C: Apapa and Ojo

Group D: Ikotun and Lagos Island West

Group E: Iwaya and Ijora

Group F: Agodo and Ajah

Group G: Oshodi and Shomolu

Group H: Mushin and Ketu.

In the round of 16, Ojo edged out Abeokuta, Apapa defeated Ojuelegba, Ebute Metta West lost to Ikotun and Lagos Island West sent Mosafejo packing. In the other pairings, Iwaya knocked out Shomolu, Oshodi defeated Ijora, while Mushin showed Ajah the way out and Agodo sent Ketu packing.

In the round of eight (Quarter-final) matches played at Railway Recreational Compound, Ebute Metta and LASPARK in Otto Ijora, Ojo were victorious over Ikotun, Apapa lost to the defending champions, Lagos Island West whereas an enterprising Iwaya side lost to Agodo while Oshodi defeated Mushin.

At that point the stage was set for the money spinning stage which had the following teams slug it out in the Semi-finals.

(A) Agodo

(B) Ojo

(C) Oshodi

(D) Lagos Island West.

At this point in time, for the sake of those that might not have been aware of the uniqueness of this mouth-watering competition, lets quickly inform that the Prize money for this tourney had been set at a princely sum of N2,000,000, whereas the 2nd placed team (the losing finalists) are billed to go home with N1.5 Million. The team that emerges as 3rd place match winner gets for its efforts a sum of N1 Million and even the 4th place team would not be leaving empty-handed but rather will receive a cash sum of N500, 000.

In the 1st Semi final played at the Soccer pitch of Yaba College of Technology on the 11th of April 2014, Ojo were defeated by Agodo by 3 goals to 1 (3-1), while the defending champions Lagos Island defeated the crowd favourite Oshodi by a solitary goal scored by their gangling striker David Alabi in the 21st minute of the second half.

Clement O. Sagu and Godwin Aguda both of Apapa top the Highest Goalscorers’ Chart with five (5) goals apiece. They are both followed by Sunday Adeyemi, the Captain of Agodo and Ogochukwu Eze popularly called Sanchez also of Agodo with four (4) goals apiece.

It has got to be said that in the course of the competition, we came across quite a number of promising players, a few of which are gunning for the Most Valuable Player award. Notably aiming for this individual diadem are Omowale Emmanuel of Lagos Island West, Emmanuel Appah of Apapa and Sunday Adeyemi of Agodo.

Come Saturday May 10 2014, who will cart home this year’s giant 1960BET GOLD CUP?

This would be known when the two gladiators – Team Agodo (undeafeated throughout the competition) and the defending champions, Lagos Island West slug it out for the N2 Million prize money.

The Climax of the competition is expected to be the landmark signing ceremony of the HEADLINE SPONSORSHIP DEAL between 1960bet and Stationery Stores by the MD of the company, Mr Dotun Ajegbile and Mr Tilewa Adebajo, the Executive Director of Stationery Stores FC, a multi-million Naira deal which saw the Lagos darling team bounce back with a bang to the Nigeria National League (NNL)