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By Amaechi Agbo

The FCT Football Coaches Association Monday unveiled its master plan for an Abuja Football Village, the first of its kind in Nigeria if not Africa, Bestchoicesports.com.ng can report authoritatively.

The Abuja Football Village which is a master piece in view of its embodiments will be built in collaboration with the FCT Football Association and other partners including governments and private enterprises. 

The unveiling of the Football Village was part of activities organised to celebrate the Chairman of Bwari Area Council, Dr John Gabaya Shekwogaza.

Dr John who is also the 2^nd Vice Chairman of the FCT FA was honoured by the association via a novelty match between the FCT Coaches selected and Bwari Area Council coaches selected. The match which was played at the Bwari Township Stadium by 4pm ended one nil in favour of the former.

Speaking with journalists after he was installed as the FCT Football Coaches Association Patron, the Executive Chairman of the Bwari Area Council who is also the the Chairman of the area FA, thanked the association for their honour and promised to support them realise the Abuja Football Village Concept.

“I am overwhelmed today by this singular honour. I lack the right word to express my deep feelings of appreciation and gratitude. I remain grateful.

“I will make you a promise that in my tenure, football will be given a priority attention because it is at the heart of engaging the youths in our area. We will support the Football Village project to ensure it comes to the limelight,” he said.

Earlier in an interview with Best Choice Sports, Chairman of the FCT Coaches Association, Godwin Bamigboye said that the Abuja Football Village is conceptualised to take up hostels that would accommodate 5000 athletes, a mini-stadium, four standard football field, seven five-aside fields. It will have parking lots and reserved areas We are going to honour the 2^nd Vice Chairman of the FCT FA in his election as the Executive Chairman of Bwari Area Council with a novelty match. His election is a big plus to the FCT FA because we have someone who is occupying the position of the third tier of government in the board.

“The concept has been there over the years. As far as during the time of the former Minister of State for FCT, Mrs Akinjide, we among other things during a courtesy visit to her, presented the need to have an Abuja Football Village which would be one of its kind in the country.

“We want to site it in Bwari and we believe that with Dr John Gabaya position, he can talk to FCT authorities to do the needful as regards the land where the village will be built.

“The Abuja Football Village, when completed, will have a mini-stadium, four standard football field, seven five-aside fields. It will have parking lots, reserved areas as well as hostels that can take not less than 5000 thousand athletes. The Village will be useful for different programmes not only for football. It will also have a multipurpose hall. It is going to be actualised through the cooperation and collaboration of different organisations but the FCT FA is spearheading it because it has to do with football. It is also going to be model in public Private partnership that is the PPP model.

“Of course it is a big project and will take a lot of money to actualise it but we are hopeful that we can get it done. We can bring everybody on board to realise it. It is a generational project and the novelty match in honour of Dr Gabaya provided us the ample opportunity to introduce this great concept to the world,” Mr Bamigboye said.