Africa's flashiest freestyle footballers battle it out for big bucks in Lagos

W/S Freestylers on stage, Lagos
M/S Freestylers on stage
M/S Freestylers on stage
M/S Crowd
W/S Freestylers on stage
SOT, Okafor Evelyn, African Freestyle Football Championship Female Winner 2019: ''I feel so great, wonderful and excited. It's not easy, it's not easy, freestyle football really is an exhausting sport, well no sport is not exhausting, every sport is exhausting. Every since I started freestyling, it's not easy but without determination and passion, don't give up, it's really good. It's my first time competing, both in the Nigerian championship and African championship.''
C/U Freestyler on stage
M/S Freestyler on stage
M/S Freestyler juggling on stage
C/U Freestyler's feet juggling ball on stage
M/S Judges
W/S Freestyler heading on stage
M/S Crowd
M/S Freestylers on stage
C/U Crowd
W/S Freestylers on stage
M/S Freestylers on stage
SOT, Yousef Aiman Riesco, African Freestyle Football Championship Runner-up 2019: ''This year the level was crazy, crazy, crazy compared to last year. I know still we are the same top four guys, but the level really increased and I saw some new faces and that was great. Of course this competition is making things huge for freestylers all around Africa.''
M/S Freestylers on stage
M/S Crowd
M/S Freestylers performing together
W/S Crowd
W/S African 2019 Freestyle Football Championship Male Winner Abdul Titi Kone presented with cheque
M/S Kone displaying trophy
SOT, Abdul Titi Kone, African Freestyle Football Championship Male Winner 2019 (French): ''Firstly I feel good, I thank God because the competition was not easy, I had aches but with the prayer of friends, family I won the trophy, we must also recognise that I do not sleep almost, it is the work and the prayer the respect of the parents, it is what makes us boys in Africa and if it pleases to God we will make our mothers proud."
M/S African Freestyle Football Championship Female Winner 2019 Okafor Evelyn being presented with trophy and cheque
SOT, Odyke Nzewi, CEO, FeetandTricks International: ''Well we believe that the empowerment we are giving to the youth, you know. I mean people are watching this all over Africa, so anybody out there who feels that he's got the skills, all you need is a ball. So we are happy that we are empowering this youth, you know, giving them a direction and hopefully by the end of next year probably, freestylers will be in high demand.''
M/S Hadhar Mohammed presented with trophy and cheque `
C/U Sign 'African Freestyle Football Championship 2019'
SCRIPT
The third edition of the African Freestyle Football Championship took place on Sunday in Lagos, with 2019's competition playing host to competitors from 16 countries all across Africa.
Ivorian freestyler Titi Kone took home the main prize for men this year and Nigerian Okafor Evelyn was the women's victor. After the competition she said that she felt 'so great' and went on to comment on the difficulty of Freestyle Football, calling it an 'exhausting sport.''
CEO of the tournament's organiser, FeetandTricks International, Odyke Nzewi, spoke of inspiring the next generation, saying: "We believe in the empowerment we are giving to the youth, I mean people are watching this all over Africa so anybody out there who feels he has got the skills all you need is a ball, so we are happy that we are empowering this youth."
FeetandTricks International's goals of setting up the tournament were to provide Africans with a new platform to showcase their skills to the world and ultimately exploit the global appeal of freestyle football.
Related stories can be found here: https://ruptly.tv/en/videos/20190219-011 & https://ruptly.tv/en/videos/20190810-008
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