Pepsi Academy Holds Gala Night to Honour Youngsters and Coaches

Pepsi Academy Holds Gala Night to Honour Youngsters and Coaches

 Pepsi Football Academy on Friday began the Festival of Youth 2014 with an inter-region football competition at Agege Stadium, Lagos. The event provides a right platform for the youngsters to showcase their talents. The Academy ended the festival with a Gala Night at Lagos Airport Hotel on Saturday and a number of players and coaches who participated in the tournament were rewarded.

On the pitch of play, players such as Thanksgod Nnoron, Zion Omoyofunmi, Adeniji Babatunde showed quality in their various teams.

 In Thankgod Nnoron 16 year- old lad who played for the East comprising Aba, Owerri and Enugu training centres another Rashidi Yekinni is in the making. He is powerful and a ruthless finisher. So also is Zion Omoyofunmi who was a torn in the flesh of the defense of the team from the North during the final match between North and West 1. These players represent a bright future for Nigerian football.

Activities shifted to the legendry Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja on Saturday evening where the players and coaches were rewarded for their hardwork. The event attracted top guns in the sport sector including the Technical Director, Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Shuaibu Amodu,  Ex- international, Dahiru Sadi amongst others.

The award for the Best Coach of the year was won by Mr. Baba Labaran who led the North teams to win both the U-14 and U-16 trophies at the tournament. The Most Valuable Players for the 3^rd Place Match for U-16 was won by Thankgod Nnoron from the East comprising Aba, Owerri and Enugu training centres.  Zion Omoyofunmi from the North went home with the Most Valuable Player for the final match for U-16.

 Junior James from the North emerged the Best Goalkeeper for U-14, while that of U-16 was won by Frank Ozodu also from the North. Samuel Adegbesan (West 11), Wale Ayodele(West 1) and Yakubu Baba (North) are Most Valuable Players at  Group Stage. Players, coaches of the Academy, parents and special guests coach Amodu Shaibu had fun. Debbie Rise who was the second runner-up in Nigerian Idol Season 3 entertained guests with a great music performance.

Commenting on the tournament, Mr. Iain Nelson, Consultant to Pepsi Football Academy said the essence of the event was to create motivation and provide a challenging platform for the Pepsi Academy lads to showcase their talents. He said:  “The challenge for these youngsters is to try and be selected from their centers to play at the regional level or represent the Academy at local and international competitions.”

Mr. Baba Labaran, Coordinator of Pepsi Football Academy Kaduna Centre, who led the North teams to win both the U-14 and U-16 trophies, expressed satisfaction with the performance of his teams. He said their success was a result of hard work and lots of training in the past 12 months. He said the team last year played in the final but lost by 1-0 which he said gingered them to go back and correct some of their mistakes.

Players for the competition for both U-14 and U-16 categories were drawn from all the Pepsi Academy training centers nationwide competing in four zonal format: North, East, West 1 and West 11.

Davido, Olamide, Phyno, Basket Mouth Excite Fans At Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged

Davido, Olamide, Phyno, Basket Mouth Excite Fans At Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged

The highly publicised Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged which has been enjoying great media presence for weeks, took place on Friday and lived up to its rating as the biggest entertainment event to hold in Nigeria this year. This edition was special as it marked the 10^th anniversary of the event.

Attracting the best entertainers the country can boast of, the event which took place in Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos, was anchored by the hilarious duo of Basket Mouth and IK of the Big Brother fame. Both cracked ribs with ensuring there was no dull moment during the all night show.

DJ Humility was on hand and he dished out tunes that no feet at the event resisted the compelling invitation to dance. The acts that raised the curtain did a good job as their outstanding performance led the way for the top entertainers to build on. Amongst them are Mr. 2K, El-Prince, Ruby Gyang and some others.

P-Square, the talented twin, stormed the stage and held their audience captive with hit songs like “E No Easy”, ”Shekini”, Collabo. Some other big performers at Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged were MI, Presh, Waje, Davido, Sound Sultan, Kaffy, Rugged Man, Davido and Don Jazzy with the Marvin’s all stars.

Commenting on the event, an elated Head of Marketing, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, No

rden Thurston, said: “The array of stars at Pepsi Rhythm Unplugged goes to show the huge talent base in this country. This creative gifts lie with the youths and who could better project and support the youth more than a youth brand like Pepsi that has over the years been involved with youth and talent.”

The audience, tired from dancing all night felt there was nothing else that could separate them from their seats but when Olamide and Phyno climbed the stage to deliver what is undoubted their best performances, the audience took over the singing of familiar hits like “Awon Goons Mi” and “Man of the Year”.

But the best was yet to come as the audience found out. At the mention of Wizkid, the fans at the auditorium went wild with excitement. Wizkid, came on and melted hearts like a hot knife on butter. The Pepsi ambassador’s performance had many female fans standing on their chairs in a bid to catch a glimpse of the talented artiste.

It was a beautiful night to cherish, one that best exemplified Pepsi as a brand with high Pop culture and entertainment value.

 

Phyno, Sound Sultan Excite Fans at the Pepsi Trace Urban Party

Phyno, Sound Sultan Excite Fans at the Pepsi Trace Urban Party

The crème de la crème of Nigerian entertainment industry, on Saturday December 13 thronged Lekki for the Pepsi Trace Urban party, to the ecstasy of teeming fans. The event was spiced up by Pepsi, as the pro-music brand dished out free drinks from dusk to dawn to everyone present.

Pepsi Trace Urban undoubtedly took the centre stage in the entertainment industry as all the stars that could have shown across the country made the roll call.

Leading the pack of top celebrities who graced the event was leader of Naija Ninja clan, Sound Sultan, rave rap duo, Phyno and Olamide, both excited other guests as they trooped in with a combined large entourage, Presh, former member of the group, “KC Presh” and the “Rich and Famous” crooner, Praiz was also in attendance.

Others were Dubie, former member of the group “Pulse”, which sang “Sotey” with Busta Rhymes featuring in the remix, Lambogini, one of Nigeria’s current dancehall stars, MTV presenter, Ehiz, Pepsi brand ambassador Lynxxx and lots of up and coming artistes.

Head of Marketing, Seven up Bottling Company, Norden Thurston, said: “When it comes to youth and talents, Pepsi is committed to supporting platforms that enable gifted young men and women to achieve their dreams in life. Pepsi has credible platforms like Nigerian Idol, Pepsi Top 10 Music Chart, Rhythm Unplugged and many others for music, Pepsi Football Academy, Pepsi Street Cup Tournament and COPA Lagos are some of the sports platforms used to meet the passion point of youths.”

“We intend to continue supporting the youth through these platforms and Trace Urban Party is definitely a good platform that we appreciate and the youths appreciate as well as you can see from the large turnout at the party.

Everyone at the party held one brand or the other from the stable of Pepsi as the company made sure there was more than enough to go round. The event had several Disc Jockeys that thrilled the guests, with DJ Neptune and DJ Spinall standing out from the list.

Pepsi brand’s support for Trace Urban Party is one of the many ways it appreciates the brands teeming consumers who have been loyal over the years, giving them reasons to be happy and “live for now”.

Pepsi Expresses Satisfaction with Academy’s Performance against Barcelona at Copa Lagos

Pepsi Expresses Satisfaction with Academy’s Performance against Barcelona at Copa Lagos

Leading sponsor of Copa Lagos 2014, Pepsi has expressed satisfaction with the performance of its team, Pepsi Football Academy (PFA) against FC Barcelona, one of the biggest clubs in the world in a match that ended 7-4 in favour of the visitor.

The academy made a come back from 5-0 but could not withstand the pressure from the highly experienced Barcelona’s team who kept on penetrating its defense.

Head of Marketing Seven-Up Bottling Company, Mr. Norden Thurston in an interview after the match in Lagos described Copa Lagos as one of the biggest beach soccer tournaments in the world. He said was amazed that such big event was being held in Lagos. He said the tournament has gone from strength to strength since it began in three years ago and that Pepsi was proud to be involved. He described the performance of the PFA against the FC Barcelona as impressive for an academy that started playing beach soccer for less than one month.

He said: “Never in the last three years has the academy played with one of the biggest teams in the world. I think is a fantastic achievement not just for playing against FC Barcelona but also scoring against them. We had opportunity to make it 6-5 when the score was 6-4 but unfortunately we lost 7-4. The academy has just started playing beach soccer for less than a month and to lose 7-4 is an amazing achievement. I am very proud of the academy and Pepsi as a brand, Norden stated.”

He noted that the opportunity to play Barcelona was a huge one for the academy. “When I was told that FC Barcelona was coming and that the PFA will have opportunity to play with them, I was excited

 Director Pepsi Football Academy, Chief Kasimawo Laloko said his boys could have done better but failed to take their chances. He said the boys had more chances than the visitor. He however said he was impressed that the team gave a respective performance. He explained that playing on the grass is different from playing on sand which the boys were not familiar with.

Chief Laloko lamented low development of beach football in Nigeria but expressed optimism that the involvement of Pepsi would transform the game in the shortest time. He however called on stakeholders in the sector to support the initiative of Lagos State Football Association to take the game to the next level.