Lagos State Football Association Chairman Hajji Gafar Liameed has challenged participating teams to bring only their finest talents to the 2026 Lagos Supremacy Cup, as the countdown to one of Nigeria’s established scouting tournaments reaches 40 days.
Liameed, who also serves as a key organiser and driving force behind the competition, released the latest participation guidelines on Nigeria’s 66th Independence anniversary, restricting the forthcoming tournament to eight clubs and significantly reducing the number of players each team can present.
Each participating side will be permitted to register only 16 players — two goalkeepers and 14 outfield players.
The restriction, Liameed explained, is deliberate.
“We do not want to see your entire squad. We are interested only in your very best and most talented players,” he said.
“This scouting tournament is not about substitutions. It is about presenting your best legs.”
Only the Edo Selected Team has been granted an exception, with the side permitted to register 18 players in consideration of the distance it must travel.
The philosophy is consistent with what Liameed has previously described as the fundamental purpose of the Supremacy Cup: creating additional pathways for talented Nigerian youngsters who may never receive opportunities through the country’s limited youth national-team places. In 2024, he argued that the competition exists to expose carefully selected talents directly to international scouts.
That scouting identity has continued to grow. The 2025 edition at the Legacy Pitch in Surulere attracted scouts, agents and football officials from abroad, with representatives of European clubs watching the young players on display.
There is also evidence of the pathway producing tangible outcomes. Nigerian defender Samuel Isife, previously spotted by agents while representing 36 Lion at the Supremacy Cup, subsequently continued his European career and secured a four-year move to Slavia Prague.
Last year’s competition produced a dramatic conclusion, with Ikorodu City defeating defending champions Beyond Limits 5-4 on penalties after their final at the Legacy Pitch.
Liameed himself has increasingly positioned grassroots development at the centre of his Lagos FA administration, arguing earlier this year that football opportunities must be pushed deeper into communities across the state.
Now, with 40 days remaining until another Supremacy Cup, the philosophy is being taken a step further.
Eight teams will come. Squads will be smaller. And every available place will carry greater significance.
For Liameed, the instruction could hardly be clearer: *don’t bring everybody — bring the players you genuinely believe the scouts cannot afford to miss.*
