President of FROT Group, Frank Momoh, believes his company’s sponsorship pact with the Edo State Football Association will revitalize football in the state.

FROT Group is the title sponsor of the state’s FA Cup, which draws will hold on Tuesday. The group is also involved with the plan to revive the Principal’s Cup in the state with the maiden edition of the competition scheduled for this year.

Speaking in Lagos on his company’s involvement in the Edo State FA Cup yesterday, Momoh said sponsoring the competition is his organisation’s means of giving back to the society, adding that the company was moved to partner with the federation after examining the programme set out by the Frank Ilaboya-led association.

He said, “We were the major sponsors of the Nigeria Football Federation’s (NFF) leadership training course in the United Kingdom, where we met with the Edo FA chairman, who convinced us to partner with his federation through a well-thought out development programme.

“We are with Edo Football Association 100 per cent and we will be part of the FA Cup from the draws to the final.

“What we have done is to increase the winners’ prize money from N250, 000 to N500, 000, with the other categories’ winners getting enhanced rewards. This way, we hope to motivate more teams to join in the competition.”

Momoh disclosed that FROT Group would team up with the Edo FA to ensure that only bona fide students participated in the Principal’s Cup, adding that the organisers would verify the authenticity of the students through their schools’ register.

“The old Bendel State, which had the present Edo and Delta States, was very strong in football because it invested in the Principal’s Cup.

That is the way we want to go because we believe there would be no need to go to the academies when we have viable football competitions involving secondary school students.

“We will sensitise the teachers to play by the rules by ensuring that no mercenary featured in the Principal’s Cup. This is because if we get it right, more sponsors will choose sports sponsorship as their CSR?”, Momoh emphasised.