Lagos – The organisers of the African Freestyle Football Championships, Feet `N Tricks Int’l Ltd., on Wednesday announced June 22, as the commencement date for the regional audition for the competition in Lagos.

The date was reeled out at a media parley to signal the commencement of registration for the 3rd edition of the competition which would be in four centers across the country.

The Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Feet `N Tricks, Valentine Ozigbo, said that in order to make the competition bigger and better, the competition would go regional to capture more talents.

He said that the registration for the competition was already open to all freestylers on the website at www.feetandtricks.com, while those who did not have the online opportunity would be registered manually.

He also said that regional audition would start with Lagos for the South-West Region on June 22 at Rowe Park, Yaba, while Brownhill Event Centre, Warri, would host the South-South Regional on June 30.

For the South-East Region, Cubana Lounge, Owerri would be the centre for the audition on July 6, while the Northern Region audition would be held at Central Park, Abuja on July 13.

Ozigbo noted that the auditioning would start from 10 a.m. and end at 5 p.m.

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He said that the competition had been able to bring out the best of African Freestylers, adding that it had been able to provide opportunities for advancement.

“We have been able to solve many social problems with the competition, it has provided meaningful engagement to our youths who are unemployed, provide health and fitness opportunities as well as economic benefits.

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“The competition has been able to put Nigeria on the world map of sports and we have the affiliation with the World Freestyle Football Association.

“We will not rest on our oars until we domesticate the freestyle football in Nigeria. Our champions have represented Nigeria at the world event in Warsaw, Poland.

“We have been able to expose them to the world and also attract other world stars in Freestyle coming to participate. This year’s event will be bigger and better,’’ he said.

Ozigbo said that the organisers would have a talent hunt in some selected communities for those who would not have the opportunity to register online.

“We will have more grassroots participation and that is why we are having the regional audition. We will go to the creeks and some suburbs such as Ajegunle, Oworonshoki, and Yaba to get those talents.

“We are also doing same in all the regions because we want as many talents to be on board. We have been spending a lot to get those talents and we will also see them to stardom.

“The grand finale of the African Freestyle Football Competition will be held at the Balmoral Centre, Federal Palace Hotels, Lagos Island on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15.

“There will be handsome rewards for the participants from the regional to the grand finale, while we also expect a Nigerian to win the tournament this time around.

“Another event that will be added to this competition is a Panna game which is a game of two players who will try to out-dribble themselves,’’ he said.

NAN