Three of the participating five teams at the Aisha Buhari Cup 2021 landed in Lagos on Monday morning, 72 hours to kick-off of the prestigious but FIFA President Gianni Infantino as well as Patrice Motsepe, head of CAF will be received on arrival on Wednesday few hours to the opening game.
Making this revelation on Monday was the Amaju Pinnick, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, who said the presence of the two most powerful men in world and African football is indication of how high profile the competition, staged in honour of wife of Nigeria’s President, is.
“We have done everything humanly possible to have a hitch-free competition which will be the yardstick for measuring how to host competitions in Africa. I must really commend the LOC headed by Barr Seyi Akinwunmi and the Lagos state government which has put every facility at our disposal. And to raise the profile of the competition, CAF President Motsepe will arrive around 12:30pm while FIFA President Infantino will touch down at 1pm. They will be special guests at the opening match,” he began.
Pinnick also revealed the itinery of his guests in whose honour a dinner party will be held for them later on Wednesday night.
He said: “An exclusive dinner will be held for them after the the game and the following day they will be off to Abuja to pay a courtesy call on President Muhammadu Buhari. Because of their tight schedule they will depart afterwards, but FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura and her CAF counterpart Veron Mosengo-Omba will arrive and stay till the end of the competition so you can see that the competition is highly-regarded.”
Pinnick further said the six teams to compete in the competition were carefully selected on current form.
“The six teams are the best six in Africa so we decided to pitch them together to raise the standard of the competition. Anyone of these teams can win and the eventual winners will definitely be worthy of their victory,” he said.
The LOC announced on Sunday that all matches of the competiton will hold at the remodelled Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onikan.
While Morocco and Mali are in Group A with Nigeria, Ghana’s Black Queens, two-time runners-up of the Women Africa Cup of Nations, will tackle Cameroon and South Africa in Group B.
