The golden boys of Excel Education Centre, Port Harcourt Thursday clinched the 18th edition of the NNPC/Shell Cup beating Fosla Academy, Abuja 3-2. A whopping N8.2million was shared among the winners– N3.5m for the 1st position; N2.3m for the 2nd position; N1.3m and N1.1 for the 3rd and the 4th positions respectively.

Kelvin Amadi of Excel school and Joseph Ejeh of Fosla were selected by the coaching crew from Feyenoord Academy, as the two best players of the 2016 tournament and would be sponsored for a training tour to The Netherlands.

In the match played at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere Lagos, Joseph Tari of Excel opened scores in the 13th minute of play when he beat the Fosla defenders and the goalkeeper to lob the ball in the net. The thunderous applause from the team’s supporters was short-lived as Solomon Abraham of Fosla Academy equalised in the 14th minute. Jacob Bamaiyi shot the Excel boys back to the lead in the 33rd minute of play.

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The second half saw Tari finding the net again to give victory comfort to his team. In a brilliant show of resilience and determination, Solomon converted a penalty to score the second goal for his side.

The annual tournament, Nigeria’s flagship secondary school soccer championship, is organised by the Nigeria Schools Sports Federation and sponsored by the SPDC joint venture.

Sheikh Abubakar Gumi College, Kaduna won the maiden edition of the cup in 1999 while Rochas Okoracha Foundation School, Ogbuku, Imo State won the 2015 edition.