No less than 148 secondary schools and teams are set to compete as the 2026 edition of the MTN Champs athletics competition begins in Jos, with organisers forecasting a highly competitive getaway among young athletes from throughout the nation.
The three-day championship, holding at the New Jos Municipality Arena, is the third leg of this year’s nationwide series and types part of MTN Nigeria’s more comprehensive grassroots sports advancement effort targeted at determining and nurturing emerging skills in athletics.
Speaking at a media instruction ahead of the event, MTN’s Chief Internal Audit and Forensic Providers Officer, Ibe Etea, stated the telecoms company stays committed to buying youth advancement through structured sporting platforms.
He kept in mind that the Jos satisfy builds on the momentum taped in earlier legs of the competitors, which were successfully kept in Lagos and Calabar, with the grand finale arranged for Ibadan.
According to him, approximately 1,300 student-athletes will compete in 94 track and field occasions covering 4 age categories, showing the competitors’s broadening reach and growing reputation within Nigeria’s sports calendar.
He included that organisers have actually examined the benefit structure to more motivate participating schools, with the total winning team expected to get 2 million, while the second- and third-placed schools will earn 1.5 million and 1 million respectively. The fourth-placed team will get 500,000.
The MTN Champs, introduced in 2022 in partnership with Making from Champions, has actually quickly turned into among Nigeria’s most prominent independently funded school sports competitors. Designed as a skill discovery and development pipeline, the programme offers student-athletes with access to structured competition, expert training direct exposure, and paths into elite sports.
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Since its creation, the effort has actually attracted participation from more than 20,000 professional athletes representing over 1,500 schools nationwide. Organisers disclosed that at least 30 standout athletes have actually advanced into the MTN Champs Athletics Academy, where they get sophisticated training and mentorship.
Participants from the program have actually already started to make an effect on the nationwide phase. According to organisers, professional athletes discovered through the competitors have collectively protected over a dozen medals in domestic competitors and have actually featured in international events, consisting of representing Nigeria in relay competitions such as the guys’s 4 × 400 metres.
Likewise speaking, Managing Editor at Making From Champions, Yemi Galadima, stressed the importance of the competition in reinforcing grassroots sports in Nigeria.
She discussed that the structure of the MTN Champs, particularly its inclusion of several age classifications has assisted bridge a longstanding gap in youth athletics development in the country.
Galadima noted that, unlike previous systems where young professional athletes had actually restricted chances to complete consistently, the MTN Champs now provides a repeating and standardised platform that lines up more closely with worldwide development models.
“This competitors has ended up being a critical pathway for young athletes. It enables them to contend routinely, gain exposure, and determine their progress across different age levels, which was formerly doing not have in Nigeria,” she stated.
Officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria have actually likewise identified the event as an essential fixture within the domestic sports calendar, mentioning its role in skill identification and early-stage professional athlete development.
Plateau State authorities have vowed complete assistance for the hosting of the occasion. The Commissioner for Sports, Musa Ashoms, stated the state federal government is committed to offering an allowing environment for the successful staging of the competition.
He described the championship as a chance to showcase Plateau’s sporting capacity while contributing to youth engagement and development.
Likewise, the Commissioner for Education, Kachollom Gang, stated the initiative lines up with efforts to promote holistic advancement among students by combining academic pursuits with sporting quality.
She noted that school-based competitors such as MTN Champs play an essential function in instilling discipline, team effort, and ambition among youths.
In his remarks, the Director of the Plateau State Sports Council, Ezra Gunen, commended MTN for sustaining the program throughout the years and prompted taking part professional athletes to prioritise their education together with sports.
He cautioned that while athletics can offer significant opportunities, long-lasting success needs a balance between sporting ambition and academic advancement.
The MTN Champs has, over its 4 editions, developed beyond a conventional school competition into a structured ecosystem for talent discovery. Its organisers have actually consistently highlighted the importance of early exposure, data-driven performance tracking, and access to professional training as crucial elements in producing first-rate professional athletes.
With the Jos leg now underway, attention will shift to the overall standings, where schools will contend not just for medals however likewise for the significant monetary benefits attached to team performance.
The competition is expected to conclude on March 28, after which top-performing athletes and schools will advance to the final stage in Ibadan, where the champions of the 2026 MTN Champs season will be crowned.
As the event unfolds, stakeholders say its ongoing growth signals a growing acknowledgment of the function private-sector investment can play in revitalising grassroots sports and constructing a sustainable pipeline for Nigeria’s future athletics success.