By Anthony Obaseki on August 23, 2019

Future Stars of Otu-Jeremi, Delta State, have spoken of their readiness to successfully defend the Bet9ja Royal Cup though not much seems to be going on in their camp at the moment.

The club, the grassroots core of Nigeria National League (NNL) side, J. Atete FC, have recruited largely players who are yet to taste competitive football at any level before now. But these new players are said to be hungry for success and eager to hit the ground running when the Royal Cup gets underway on September 14, 2019.

Speaking on their expectations, the Club Secretary, Austin Ogwari, said that the 13th edition of the competition would be used to make more quality input into the feeder system of their parent team, J. Atete FC, ahead of the next NNL.

Ogwari noted that last year’s edition was a nice experience, as they won the coveted crown and the outstanding players were gradually integrated into their parent team’s feeder system to forge the path for their professional career.

“We intend to use this year’s edition to add more good players to our feeder team,” Ogwari said.

“Last year was a nice experience for us. We won, and then, the good players who were discovered at the end were added to our feeder to start their career professionally. Some experienced league football subsequently.

“This year will be the same. We have new players mostly and they are the ones who would play more.”

He added: “This is an opportunity for them to play themselves into reckoning with Feeder team selectors.”

While encouraging more clubs to register for the championship before the August 24 deadline, the Club Secretary said that the 2019 Royal Cup would bond people of diverse backgrounds, since it will hold across all 25 local government areas of Delta State.

Future Stars FC will begin their title defence by playing other teams in the qualifying matches in Ughelli South Local Government Area for a place in the group stage.

The draws for the 2019 Bet9ja Royal Cup will hold at Wellington Hotels in Effurun, Delta State, on Wednesday, September 4, 2019.

•Photo shows Future Stars Secretary Austin Ogwari

Source Daily Sports

Posted August 23, 2019

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