By: Odieh Ramon, Yenagoa.
The draws for the Bayelsa Pre-season Football Tournament has been completed in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital ahead of the new Nigeria Premier Football League, NPFL season.
In the draws conducted at the Ididie Hotel in Ekeki, Yenagoa, the tournament saw six teams in two groups “A” and “B”, with Enugu Rangers and Citiboi FC of Bayelsa on standby to expand the participating teams to eight.
Group A has Bayelsa United U-20, Warri Wolves and Prosperity Cup champions, Eternal Grace Ministry, EGM FC while group B will see Kun Khalifa of Owerri, Bendel Insurance of Benin and host team, Bayelsa United of Yenagoa.
According to the fixture, Bayelsa United U-20 will take on newly-promoted Warri Wolves by 1:00p.m. as Bendel Insurance battle Bayelsa United at 3:00p.m. while EGM FC are drawn bye in the matches coming up at the Samson Siasia Stadium.
Tuesday 12th August, 2025 will witness Prosperity Cup champions, EGM FC against Warri Wolves as Bendel Insurance welcomes Kun Khalifa FC at 3:00pm with the grand finale of the competition coming up on Saturday 16th August, 2025.
Coordinator of the tournament, Mr. Diseye Nwankwe in an address of welcome during the draws, said eight teams were originally scheduled to participate in the pre-season tournament, but two teams, El Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri and Rangers FC of Enugu were yet to confirm their availability.
According to the Secretary, El Kanemi Warriors are about having the medicals of their players ahead of the forthcoming season, which was impromptu, and so might not be in Yenagoa for the pre-season, while Enugu Rangers’ participation at the just-concluded Tico Selected Pre-season competition is standing in the way of the team’s availability.
Mr. Nwankwe said with the draws done, the organisers will wait for the confirmation of Enugu Rangers’ FC and if not forthcoming will go ahead with the six available teams.
The Secretary however said should Rangers FC arrive the state for the pre-season tournament by Monday, 11th August, then last season state representative at the Nationwide League, Citiboi FC of Yenagoa is on standby to complete the eight teams.
He said the essence of the tournament was not to win but to prepare the various participating teams in shape before the new football season commences.
He noted that the competition would provide another opportunity to expose the non-league teams to more NPFL teams apart from giving the professional side a platform to prepare for the new season.
Also, Bendel Insurance General Manager, Charles Ihimekpen asserted that Insurance’s participation in the Bayelsa Pre-season Tournament is important to the team, noting that the competition has been part of their plans to provide a platform to fine-tune the team in their final preparation for the new football season.
”Our technical crew has been working hard to get a formidable team and it is normal for us to use this kind of platform to test some of our new players and have a blend of the old and new players ahead of the league kickoff.” he stated.