The Lagos Mini Football League will officially launch with an opening ceremony in Agege on Friday, July 31, 2026. The league matches will begin the next day, Saturday, August 1. Organisers shared this news during a press conference at Keke Primary School in Agege on Tuesday.
The tournament is organised by the Agege Local Government and the Nigeria Mini Football Association. It will take place every Saturday and Sunday in August, from 12 noon to 5 PM. There will be three venues in Agege: the Keke Mini Football Stadium, a facility near the Salvation Army known as Oniwaiya, and the Active Zone ground in Orile Agege.
Abdul-Ganiyu Vinod Obasa, the chairman of Agege Local Government and the Lagos Mini Football League, said this initiative aims to provide young people with a structured activity during their holiday. The facility has been built specifically for this purpose.
He added that the league will also help scout players for the men’s and women’s national mini-football teams. "We will be starting the Lagos State Mini Football; both male and female are part of the sport," Obasa said.
"It encourages the younger people to participate in sports, and they are able to play a more technical game in these small spaces instead of the larger game. That is why we are launching this sport. We are also trying to pick the Nigerian team from this competition. We have started the scouting process already."
Thirty teams will compete in the league. This includes 20 men's teams and 10 women's teams, using a six-a-side format. They will play across ten match days throughout the month.
Sheriff Tajudeen, the vice chairman of the Lagos Mini Football Association, explained that each team will play nine league matches. The top two teams in each group will move on to the semi-finals and final. Participation is open to clubs, not individuals. Players must be aged 16 and above, and both grassroots and professional clubs can register.
"There are quite a number of objectives towards organising the league. Number one is to discover talents; secondly, it is to engage them so they can be familiar with the rules of the game and reach international standards," he said.
"Also, it’s an opportunity to engage the community both locally and statewide because we know that football is a uniting force. It brings people together. It also keeps the young ones busy and takes them away from vices."
Tajudeen mentioned that a key goal of the competition is to find players who can represent Nigeria in continental and global mini-football tournaments. This includes the women’s edition in Cameroon in September and the African Mini Football Nations Cup in Guinea in 2027.
He added that interest from clubs outside Lagos has already been shown, including those from Benin and Ekiti. The league has full support from the Lagos State Football Association, the National Sports Commission, and the Nigeria Football Federation.
The winning men's team will receive ₦3 million, while the women’s winners will take home ₦1.5 million. Tajudeen explained that this difference is due to the higher number of men’s teams and the increased cost of organising that category.
The opening ceremony on Friday is expected to include a novelty match and appearances from celebrities and musicians. Organisers are inviting the public to come and join the fun.
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