Banks and financial institutions featuring in this year’s Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sponsored football tournament will split total prize money of N5million. The competition is organised in collaboration with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The final match of the tournament that will feature 32 teams from the banks, financial regulatory agencies and other institutions in the sector is billed for Lokoja Township Stadium on November 16.

The Director, Corporate Communications of CBN, Ugochukwu Okoroafor, told reporters that the winner of the trophy will be rewarded with N2m, while the runner-up will take home N1.5m. The third  and fourth placed teams will get N1m and N500,000 respectively.

The group matches will be played in four centres: Lagos, Minna, Owerri and Lafia. The preliminary matches at the designated centres kicked off on Tuesday and will run through October 8. The quarter-final matches are also going to be played at the same venues.
Okoroafor said that the semi-final matches are billed for Akure and Kaduna respectively on October 19.

He said the tournament is designed to create an opportunity for business and social interaction among players, officials and staff of the competition institutions.

CBN is also tapping into the football platform for the benefit of the stakeholders as the game is a unifying source of national pride and is devoid of ethnic, regional and political colorations.