The annual soccer tournament that metamorphosed from the HRA Cup to the Odi-olowo Ojuwoye Chairman’s Cup has its 5th edition unveiled on Wednesday, 11 July 2025, at the Council Secretariat with a press conference and match draw having pressmen, coaches, players and the Council management team in attendance.

The Council Chairman, Hon. Rasaq Olushola Ajala narrated the tournament journey so far as his administration ends very soon, saying the objective behind the tournament is to bring the people of the community together and change the narrative of residents from one area not going to another area.

“We know that one of the platforms we can use to direct the energy and focus of our youths instead of them using it to unleash terror on innocent residents is through sports; we are doing a lot as we are changing the narrative through sports in Odi-olowo Ojuwoye LCDA community.

“Also, promoting the hidden talents and potentials we have in Odi-olowo Ojuwoye to the world, giving our youths the opportunity to become a responsible resident and, by extension, Lagos State and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” He said.    

He highlighted some of the achievements of the tournament since its inception till date, that the tournament has changed from a mere community game to a household name in soccer events in Lagos that other teams within the State, neighbouring and other States look up to. A team called Ghetto Tigers was formed and sponsored by the Chairman, and some of the players are exposed to international football tournaments and have won many competitions, given the fact that the community don’t have a standard pitch where the finals are played outside the community, the Chairman disclosed that his last year promise has been fulfilled by constructing a standard football pitch at Ilupeju Secondary School, with the dream of having a standard pitch at each ward of the local council. 

Looking ahead, he promised to get the Ghetto Tiger team an operational bus because football is big business that is worth investing in, he announced and introduced to the gentlemen of the press that four of the players would be going to Sweden for a football trial by September, advised them to be good ambassadors of the community, the State and Nigeria at large.

He assured the people present that the next administration will be a government of continuity with more opportunities for the players as the next Chairman is a sports lover.

Trophies and medals won by the Ghetto Tigers at the just concluded BAT U17 Cup were presented to the Chairman and Vice-Chairman, appreciating their support for the team. 

Speaking with Mushines, the Vice-Chairman of the council who doubles as the APC Chairmanship candidate for the forthcoming local election, hopefully will be elected as the Chairman of the Council taking the mantle of leadership expressed his readiness and enthusiasm to continue on the project as the tournament is scheduled to continue till the next administration.

“As you can see, season 5 is scheduled to start July to September, which cuts across the two administrations. This is the benefit of continuity of good governance, which we will sustain as our pet project, having started it together five years ago, and it is something beneficiary to the youth in the community.

‘’I believed in all things especially in an engagement of this nature as a collaboration, where we as government do our part and the youth take advantage of this noble support from the government, exposing their talents and changing the narratives.’ He said.

He explained further that the narrative out there as regards the community is not as it is, “When we use the word “changing the narrative”, I think it is more important to use the word exposing the good talents because the narrative out there is literally not the right narrative, every society has pros and cons, it is not peculiar to Mushin, everywhere in the world had it's own the bad, good and the ugly.’ He added.

Mr. Azeez Mustapha, Mr tournament co-ordinator and the project manager of Cardinal Sports Promotion said the template has been maintained from the second edition to this fifth edition, where 50 teams in different categories compete for trophies and each team will be highly compensated for participating in the tournament playing for seven weeks, teams from neighbouring states are going to be participating and it is going to be an engaging tournament. 

“We are engaging the players including the spectators as a tradition during the long-term holiday, we have 50 teams, 10 teams across each category of group A and B, playing in each category in a league format into the finals, the winner, second, third and the fourth place are all going to be rewarded which other teams to be given participating allowances depending on the stages they are knocked out,” he said.

He disclosed that all the games, from the group stages to the final, will be played at the new football pitch constructed by the Chairman, unlike before when the final matches were played outside the community.

The match draw was carried out by the local organising committee, pairing the 10 teams in each of the 5 categories with the road to the final match fixtures as the tournament kicks off on July 22.

Gift items were given to the young players, like exercise books and school bags.