By: Kelvin Omachonu
The Independence Hall Inter-Fans Club Championship is set to kick off this weekend, and it promises to be an enthralling few weeks of football.
The demo season took place in the hall last semester, with Inter Miami winning the competition. For the main competition, a few changes have been made.
Unlike the demo, which was contested by six teams, eight teams will participate in the main competition. Aside from Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Inter Miami, and Al Nassr, who contested in the first competition, Real Madrid and Young Boys have joined.
Also, while the format for the demo competition was via knockout, the main competition will be in a home-and-away league format. The participating teams will have the opportunity to
According to the Sports Commissioner Odunkan Gbemiga, the tournament is expected to go on for about five weeks. The games will be played on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at the Independence Hall Maracana.
“It’s just like we had before, the competition is aimed at promoting and bringing real-life club football experiences to the Maracana.
“We are trying to establish a format that will see the same competitiveness in a league format. Teams will be able to make transfers, and that will make it fun for everybody that is participating.”
However, he refused to reveal if there would be cash prizes for the winning teams.
On improvements and changes from the demo edition
The demo edition of the Inter-Fans Club Championship was a success, but it did not end without issues that could have easily marred it. The biggest problem with the demo competition was the officiating.
The officiating was very poor from the start to the end of the competition, and this caused fights among the participating teams. In fact, Chelsea staged a walk-out after they were wrongfully denied a goal in the second round. Also, there was a physical altercation in the games involving Barcelona and Manchester United in the first round.
Those fights could easily have been avoided if the referee made the right calls and controlled the game.
Also, timing was another issue. Most of the games did not kick off at the set time, and that caused some discomfort for players and spectators. In an events-packed session like this, timing is very important for every event as many students have a lot on their plates.
Furthermore, the organizers were quite lax with the rules of the competition last time out. There were cases when some players attacked the referee. Still, instead of disqualifying them, as stated before the start of the competition, they were let go without any form of punishment.
With that precedence set, players or teams may act out of order because they know they will not face any punishment. However, if the organizers set the rules and punish those who flout them, a high level of discipline will be maintained throughout the competition.
