Defending champions, the Nigeria Customs Service will on Tuesday trade tackles with the Certified Institute of Shipping (CIS) in the opening match of the 10th edition of the Ships & Ports Annual Maritime Cup Football Competition.
The competition will hold at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Sports Ground, Bode Thomas, Lagos.
At the draws of the competition held at the weekend in Lagos, the Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL) and Josephdam Port Services (JPS) are playing in Group A, while the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Tin can Island Container Terminal (TICT) and CIS will play in Group B.
Coordinator of the draws and former Chairman, Lagos State Referees Council, Prince Adesegun Kosoko, commended Ships & Ports Communications Company for sustaining the competition over the years.
He said, “There have been tremendous improvement in the competition over the years and that shows that the Maritime Cup has made its name in the industry. So we hope to leverage on the 10th edition to do much more and to see more new organization coming in.”
Kosoko charged the participating teams to see the competition as an avenue for leisure, to interact and to build friendship outside their various business environments.
Earlier, Coordinator of the Maritime Cup, Eucharia Okoli said that while the winners would go home with a cash prize of N500,000; the first and second runners-up would cart away N300,000 and N200,000 respectively.
Okoli said a total of eight teams would feature in the competition this year.