The first edition of the Unity Preseason Tournament organised for the NLO clubs will climax this weekend in Gwagwalada, Abuja. The tournament is organised in conjunction with the North Central NLO Board representative, Babatunde Akintade.

Though, this edition is specifically for the NLO Division One clubs, but the concept of the Unity Preseason Tournament has been on for the past few years. The tournament was conceived for NPFL clubs, to enable them have the opportunity to assess their players in preparation for the new season. The tournament remains the flagship in the North Central zone of the country. Premiership clubs like Plateau United, Nassarawa United, Lobi Stars, Katsina United, Wikki Tourists, always look forward to the tournament. According to them, it gives them the opportunity to assess their new recruits and prepare their teams for the season.

The Organisers of the tournament, this season decided to organise a specific edition for the NLO Division One clubs only, with the same concept. Twelve teams in the North Central converged in Gwagwalada to test their might against each other. We had teams like Kogi United from Lokoja,  Flight FC from Gboko, and Oyah FC from Suleja. The FCT NLO Division 1 teams that participated were Beautiful Tours FC, Woodpecker FC, Daniel FC, Paul E FC, Like Minds FC, De Royal FC, Daniel Academy, The Kings FC and Setraco FC. 

True to the word, the teams made good use of the programme to watch all their players at a very highly competitive stage in readiness for the new NLO season that will begin in April. According to the teams, the gains of the the tournament cannot be quantifed. Playing regularly for days gave them the opportunity to test the mental toughness of their players for the new NLO season.

Though, the tournament was played on very friendly environment, and as expected, there were pockets of undisciplined acts exhibited by some players and officials, which was treated with despatched. These, helped the teams to know what to expect in the new NLO season. 

Tournaments of this nature go a long way in helping the football development of the country, but lack of basic infrastructure has continually become an anathema for the organisers. Playing pitches are not available, and the ones that are available are not properly maintained to enable the players exhibit their talents adequately.