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FIFA Under-17 World Cup Finals, Nigeria 2009, bound Gambian team have served notice of its preparedness for the tournament by winning the Pepsi Under-17 International Tournament at the weekend in Abeokuta.

The Gambians who are the current African champions defeated the highly rated Liberty Professionals Academy of Ghana by 1-0 in an explosive final inside the Abeokuta Grammar School Sports complex. Apart from lifting the trophy, the Gambian team also won the best attacking and the best defensive team awards while the captain of the side, Sachou Gassama was voted one of the best players of the one-week tournament.

The Lagos State Under-17 team took the bronze following their victory over the Gateway Under-17 team in a penalty shootout after a barren 90 minutes of play. The one-week 7th Pepsi International Tournament produced some exciting display of soccer artistry from the youngsters drawn from academies in Sierra-Leone (F.C Johansen), Republic of Benin (Dimension Foot Academy) and Nigeria (Pepsi Football Academy, Lagos State Under-17 and Gateway Under-17).

Mr. Iain Nelson, Consultant to Pepsi Football Academy said the quality of organisation and play this year were very high especially with the highly entertaining games of the Gambian Under-17, FC Johansen and the Gateway Under-17 teams. He promised that Pepsi would continue to bring quality opposition to the annual tournament to test the skills of the Pepsi Academy lads and prepare them for future career in football. Director of Pepsi Football Academy Kasimawo Laloko said the teams technical play was better than in the previous years, noting that if the tempo is sustained, Africa would in future, be in a position to rule the world of football.
Laloko urged the teams to go for players with the right ages so that the expected transition from cadet to professional cadre can materialise to the benefit of national teams of different African countries