Brazilian, Kenyan clubs for Enugu pre-season tourney

In Enugu, Enugu State, eight football teams will compete in the inaugural Coal City International Cup.

The Nigeria Professional Football League teams that will compete in the competition include Enugu Rangers, Enyimba, Kano Pillars, and Remo Stars of Abeokuta, according to Ifeanyi Ogbu, the spokesperson for the competition's management team, who made the announcement on Wednesday during a press conference in Enugu.

In the competition supported by Ski-Hi Entertainment in collaboration with the Enugu State Government, Ogbu said that the NPFL teams would be joined by a Brazilian club, Esporte Clube Vitoria, Gor Mahia of Kenya, FC Kallon of Sierra Leone, and Cotton FC of Benin Republic.

He revealed that the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu would host 15 games in total over the course of nine match days with each club receiving N5m as appearance fee per match.
As a result of playing at least three games, each team would receive at least N15 million. Additionally, Ogbu stated that the competition's winners would receive N50 million, while the runners-up would receive N10 million.

According to him, the competition will serve to raise the state's status both economically and entertainment-wise, with Enugu predicted to earn an astounding N3.5 billion by the end of the competition.

"Now that this tournament has been successfully hosted, we can discuss holding international matches at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium," he stated. Additionally, the state government will use it to unveil Enugu's newly constructed stadium, which has been elegantly outfitted.

The organisers received praise from Loyd Ekweremadu, the state commissioner of sports, for the efforts put in place to host the competition.