Last Team Standing Football Reality TV Show Fever Hit Nigeria By Raymond Nwaduba
The fever of a new football reality television show, LAST TEAM STANDING, is already reverberating in Nigeria as organizers put finishing touches to strategies to what they described as ‘the mother of all television shows’.
The show, which is open to young footballers between the ages of 16 to 22 years, is designed or put together to help use football to discover and expose young talented players to diverse opportunities that the power of television offers to advance their footballing career.
The show according to them, will scout or pick players from 12 different states or regions across Nigeria where trials will be held and the “Last Team Standing” from each state qualifies for the final “Training Camp” in Lagos, where they will be all housed for 30 days to engage in football-related activities to remain in camp until a winner emerges.
Football legends like Tijani Babangida and Idah Peterside will serve as in-house coaches cum mentors for the young players and teams will be eliminated every week to get the Last Team Standing (champion).
Speaking at the media parley with journalists in Lagos on Thursday, ex-internationals Peterside Idah and Tijani Babangida took time to explain the concept behind the show along with other members of the team.
First, it was Solomon Izang Ashoms who anchored the event that laid the groundwork or set the tone for others to speak. According to him, “The show is about youth development, youth empowerment, and football is the tool deployed here.
“It’s about football and television. About the story behind the players and how to train them to become major managers during and after their careers”, he said.
The only woman among the speakers, Princess Olivia Adom, maintained that the difference between this show and other shows is the follow-up.
“We are going to follow up on every of the winners until they reach their goals in life. “This is unlike other shows where some succeed and others fail”, she concluded.
However, Peterside Idah while speaking said they want to find that player.
“We want to find that player. That player that can truly play and is greatly talented. This is why we came up with the Last Team Standing.
“This is to give voice to the voiceless, particularly in a country where connection is everything”, he concluded.
Meanwhile, Tijani Babangida explained that scouts don’t need to come before they can pick any player(s) since they are watching themselves.
“Besides mentoring the players which is the aspect that is lacking in Nigeria football, the show will afford scouts opportunity to pick the players of their choice with having to come down since they are watching the players themselves”, he said.
Again, outside the incentive of some of the players getting recruited by international scouts, the last team standing will win a cash prize of N12m and a chance to go on a training tour of soccer academies in Spain.
Interested teams/players are to visit the website www.lastteamstanding.africa to register their players as registration ends on May 31st, 2023.
The event is said to run on TV stations across the country, Rootz Sports channel, and other international TV platforms.
