The annual, showpiece Nigeria Pitch Awards, which is endorsed by the Nigeria Football Federation, will take place in the city of Kaduna on Wednesday, 23rd March, 2016.
Shina Phillips, Chief Executive Officer of Matchmakers Consult International, organizers of the Nigeria Pitch Awards, said on Monday that the event will come up hours after the Nigeria, Egypt 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium.
“We want to assure that voting for the prestigious Nigeria Pitch Awards would begin before the Christmas break, and that all other necessary arrangements have been put in place to ensure that the Awards process and everything around it remains transparent and credible, as always.
“We have waited this long to ensure that the domestic League season was concluded, in order for voters to have enough time to assess all the players fairly and equally.”
General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi, expressed the NFF’s continued support for the awards, saying that the Federation was satisfied with the organization of previous editions of the Nigeria Pitch Awards and that the Awards have been motivating Nigerian players to better performances around the globe.
“The NFF will continue to support the Nigeria Pitch Awards, as we have done from the beginning, because we are convinced of the transparency and credibility of the Awards process. Transparency and credibility are very important virtues in our lives and must be cherished,” Sanusi stated.
Also speaking on the Awards process, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, Managing Partner of SIAO – the body charged with collating and verifying the votes, confirmed that voting will begin next week and would last for one month.
Ighodalo confirmed that the organizers are already reaching out to all voters across the country to ensure that they returned their forms early enough for the names of the nominees to be announced by the end of January 2016.
“We have immense confidence in the process that we have put in place. This will maintain the Awards’ transparency and credibility, virtues for which SIAO Partners are widely reputed for.”
The first edition of the Nigeria Pitch Awards took place at the Metropolitan Hotel in Calabar in November 2013, while the second edition was held in Kaduna in June 2015.