The University of Ibadan Student's Union has on Monday, 5th of May, 2025 held a press conference with press men and departmental sport directors ahead of the upcoming Seals Cup competition.
Olowu Daniel, the chairman of the organizing committee revealed that the event is scheduled to begin on the 21st of May, 2025 and that for this year's competition, they will be inviting the dean's of different faculties likewise the director of sports as well as the female and male coach of UI sports team.
Speaking at the event, the UI'SU sports secretary stated that there will be an eSports Seals cup. According to him, this is for people who are not able to be involved in the physicality of the seals Cup. He said there'll be: FIFA, Online chess, Call of duty mobile. He also said there will be no fee for registration in eSports, while revealing that the first second and third will be rewarded handsomely
As for dress code and appearance, the chairman of the organizing committee stated that teams are meant to get uniforms. “The moment you pay, a colour hose will be assigned. If you wear a different colour, you won't be allowed to apply,” he said.
Teams can buy players whose departments are not participating in the competition. For DLC and PG students, they can't be more than 5 (combined) in the male team while the female will have 2 (combined). He advised the sport secretaries to unveil their players. He mandated the sports directors and secretaries in each department to create social media pages for their teams. This, according to him, will improve publicity for the players and the competition.
On refereeing, Olowu Daniel revealed that knockout stages will have approved referees while group stage matches will have student referees. They (the sport secretaries ) can write their complaints within seven hours of the match being played. Extreme medical conditions will only be considered before removing players. And there'll be no merging of departmental teams this year.
It was further revealed that the duration of the matches will be 30 minutes per half for the male teams while the female teams will play for 15 minutes in each half. The Seals Cup Organisers will not be held liable for injuries as they won't be providing first aid.
A total of 32 male teams and 16 female teams will be participating in this year's competition
