Nigeria’s Ministry of Sports has expressed optimism over the return of the national Principals’ Cup as it hopes to discover young talents across the country.

The Principals’ Cup is a football competition amongst secondary schools, aimed at fostering national unity, and also identifying local football talents at the grassroots level.

The competition, which has produced many ex-internationals, was very popular in the 80’s and 90’s but was abandoned until its recent revival by the Minister, Sunday Dare.

According to a statement by Dare’s special adviser (media), John Joshua-Akanji, the Principals’ Cup will not only be about football, but will include other sporting activities.

”The National Principals’ Cup is back, one of the bedrock of grassroots sports development,” he told newsmen in Abuja.

“The likes of Segun Odegbami, Henry Nwosu, Late Stephen Keshi, Daniel Amokachi, Victor Ikpeba , Joseph Dosu, Tajudeen Disu, Ganiyu Ajide , among others were all products of the Principals’ cup and they all donned the green white green national jersey.

“The fact that we can discover young talents from secondary schools and nurture them to stardom made us focus on reviving the competition.

“The Principals’ cup is kicking off soon across the federation because talents abound everywhere.

“The competition is not restricted to only football but other sports like Boxing, Badminton, table tennis and athletics.

“This is to ensure that the competition stands the test of time with sustainable improvements,” he added.