Nigerian
football legend, Nwankwo Kanu has lauded Petrolex and other sponsors of
the legends' charity football game, which took place at The Hive
Stadium in London, on September 30, 2018, for their support in making
the programme a huge success.
Speaking
with journalists after the star-studded match, tagged the Petrolex Kanu
Cup, the former Arsenal striker said, “We appreciate Petrolex for what
the company has done to make this event happen as the main sponsor. When
we called them, they didn’t say ‘no’, they said ‘yes’ because they were
convinced it is for a good cause. And from Day 1, they have been
supporting us till now.”
Kanu
had initially revealed that proceeds from the Petrolex Kanu Cup which
was in association with Masters Football will be used to help African
children access life-saving heart operations through the Kanu Heart
Foundation. It will also be invested in the construction of a modern
Cardiac Centre in Africa to reduce travelling overseas for treatment.
Kanu
said, “The Kanu Heart Foundation has done 542 operations since
inception, and there are about 200 children on the waiting list for
heart surgeries. The more we can raise funds, the more we can save more
lives. Our dream is to build hospitals in Africa, starting from Nigeria.
The pressure is on us to make sure that we can help more”.
“The
Petrolex Kanu Cup is an opportunity to bring people together to see
some amazing players – and my great friends – play the beautiful game
once more, whilst also raising money for a good cause.”
The
Charity football match ended successfully with the Premier League
Masters dominating the game from kick-off. At full time, the team,
coached by Arsene Wenger beat the African Masters 9 goals to 4.
Some
of the African stars present were Lomana LuaLua, Michael Essien, Lauren
Kolo Toure, Christopher Kanu, Rami Shaaban, George Boateng, Emmanuel
Eboue, Eric Djemba Djemba, Quinton Fortune, Mido, Danny Shittu, Yakubu
Aiyegbeni, Daniel Amokachi and Peter Odemwingie.
The Premier League team comprised of Sol
Campbell, Steve McManaman (Captain) Louis Saha, Rober Pires, William
Gallas, Wes Brown, Phil Babb, Jens Lehmann, Pascal Chimboda, David
Thompson among others.
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