By Sunday Egede
After five weeks of classic and entertaining soccer fiesta, Team Uvwie has won the 5th edition of the Sheriff Jnr Oborevwori Invitational Soccer Tournament as they defeated team Okpe in the final match of the competition via penalty shootout.
The two teams locked horns at the grand finale of tournament played on Sunday evening at the football pitch in the Osubi Airport premises in Okpe Local Government Area of the state to compete for the coveted trophy and prizes for the tournament.
The thrilling annual soccer fiesta was sponsored by Sheriff Jnr Oborevwori Care Foundation as part of efforts to promote grassroots football development and youth engagement across Delta Central.
Team Okpe who opened scoring in the 4th minutes of the tension soaked encounter, scored their second goal in the 11th minutes of the game and team Uvwie netted in their 1st goal at the 20th minutes of the first half of the competition.
At the end of the first half of the game, team Okpe was leading by 2 – 1 and upon resumption of the competition in second half, team Uvwie levelled up the score line when they scored their second goal at the 69th minutes of the game.
After 90 minutes regulation time, the score line was 2 – 2, a development which subsequently led to penalty shootout where team Uvwie emerged as winners of the 2025 edition of the soccer championship.
Speaking at the event, the organiser described the competition as a growing platform that continues to add value to sports development in the state, adding that the tournament, which has become an annual fixture, has recorded steady improvement over the years.
Sheriff Jnr noted that the soccer competition was an annual event which began five years ago, stressing that the 2025 lnvitational Soccer Tournament was the 5th edition of the championship.
“The motivation behind the competition is love and passion for our people. You can see the mammoth crowd here; it is lika a carnival and it is a good development for Deltans.
“It is an annual event which we started five years ago and this is our 5th edition. Last year was actually good but l think this year’s competition is better. We are looking at something better next year,” he said
He urged teams that couldn’t make it to the final not to give up, adding that they should prepare adequately well to enabled them do better next year, even as he assured that next year’s competition would, by the grace of God, be better than this year’s tournament.
On his Foundation which gave out 10 cars to Delta youths during the championship, Sheriff Jnr said the idea behind the Foundation was born out of love and passion to reach out to the people in need and to share love and support them, adding that the Foundation recently carried out cash empowerment for petty traders as part of its community support initiatives.
The colourful final attracted a massive crowd and was graced by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his wife, Deaconess Tobore Oborevwori; Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Guwor; Managing Director of Tantita Security Services Limited, Chief Keston Pondi; former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick; Chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, Onoriode Oborevwori; ex-Super Eagles stars Victor Ikpeba and Kanu Nwankwo, alongside top government officials, football stakeholders and thousands of sports enthusiasts.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of 10 vehicles to deserving Deltans including the most valuable player of the tournament, Arigbogha Emmanuel of team Okpe who got 2013 Toyota Corolla, by the Sheriff Jnr Oborevwori Care Foundation as well as cheques of N15 million, N10 million and N5 million to teams Uvwie, Okpe and Ughelli North who took first, second and third positions respectively
Governor Sheriff Oborevwori presented the trophy to team Uvwie, while the member representing Ughelli North, Ughelli South and Udu Federal Constituency, Hon Ejiro Waive, Rt Hon Emomotimi Guwor and Rt Hon Arthur Akpowowo, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, respectively, presented medals to three top teams in the 2025 tournament.
