Former Arsenal FC player, Robert Pires graced the
grand finale of the recently concluded
2013 Airtel Rising Stars Africa Championship in Lagos on Sunday.
The
tournament ended with Niger Republic going home as winners in the boys category after defeating
Zambia 7-6 on penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in the
final played in Lagos.
Speaking
at a dinner put together for him, the Arsenal Legend expressed
appreciation over the vision of the telecoms company to promote
grassroots football development in Africa.
“I am happy to be in the country and must commend this opportunity to discover and develop football talents,” Pires said.
Airtel
Rising Stars is a youth football initiative undertaken by Airtel
Africa. The programme, launched in 2011 in 15 Africa countries is a
soccer talent programme that aims to focus on identifying and nurturing
budding soccer talent from the grassroots onto an international stage.
The
programme targets both boys and girls between the ages of 13 – 17. The
boys and girls are encouraged to form teams and register at selected
locations including Airtel shops where they are then entered into the
tournament on qualification.
Participating
countries in the Airtel Rising Stars Competition include; Nigeria,
Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Burkina
Faso, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, DRC, Niger, Madagascar and Gabon.
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