On Sunday, October 31, 2021, a group of students headed by Mohammed Kullima, a fourth-year ICP major, organized a 5-A-Side football tournament. This came just after the recently concluded midterm exams. During the break, a few students traveled home, and many extracurricular activities were put on hold.
Kullima said he came up with the idea after he felt that organizing such a tournament would be fun and engaging for the students who remained on campus. The tournament was played at the EE parking lot that, until then, had been desolate and overgrown with weeds.
There was a total of 8 teams consisting of six players on each side, including a substitute. Since it was organized between students, the teams came up with registration fees accumulated to make up the prize money of N30,000. Notable teams were: "Team Muskule," consisting of top rank AUN league players such as Jaguar Abel, Aquaman, Shola Ajala, Sj Black, and Khalifa: "Team Tiki Taka" with notables like Asher Ekene, Eden Ngwa, Oski, Hussaini, Reaman, and coincidentally, another Khalifa.
After exciting fixtures, Team Muskule, rather unsurprisingly, came out on top to go home with the prize money. There was a massive turnout of supporters and background music that made the games enjoyable. In an epic faceoff between Teams Muskule and Tiki Taka, players like Oski and Asher Ekene wowed spectators with their game intelligence and superior skills, but it simply was not enough as Team Muskule exhibited great teamwork and resilience to clinch the prize. More games of this nature would prove beneficial to the sports culture of the school as many attendees said that they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Asked how he came up with the idea, Kullima said: "It was just midterm break and there was nothing to do in school. People were bored. I now started asking the footballers in school if they'd be open to playing in a five aside tournament. Many said no but I just decided to do it try it out and see. Luckily more people came out to watch than the AUN league on weekends. Everyone that participated really enjoyed it."
Captain of Team Muskule, Jaguar Abel, had this to say, "The organizers reached out to most footballers in school via a WhatsApp group about a tournament behind EE. I am a competitive person usually, and I promptly agreed. I immediately reached out to footballers I recognized as exceptional, and we put together the team.
"What set us apart I think was that we had players gifted with offensive and defensive skills. Players like Shola Ajala and Ahmed. We were the only team that didn't have to proceed to penalty shootouts because we scored goals from open play. I enjoyed the experience and most especially, winning the tournament."
Another player, Usman Yusuf, AKA Dante, a senior majoring in CMD, said, "The San Siro tournament was a new experience and the mastermind behind it was Kullima. It was a football tournament that united players from different AUN league teams and the school as a whole; and there was cash prize to be won. Others should learn from Kullima and organize such sporting activities."
The pitch has now been dubbed San Siro (the famous ground in Milan jointly shared by Italian football giants, AC Milan and Inter Milan) by the players, and they look forward to playing there in the future.
Report and Photo by Dahlina Fwa, CMD Major, Work-study student, Marketing and Communications Dept.