The 2023 edition of the Federation Cup will finally begin on Tuesday with a total of eight matches in the competition’s National Playoffs round.
These matches will be followed by the Draw Ceremony for the national competition on Wednesday at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the competition which involves the two representatives of each of the country’s 36 states and the FCT had ended abruptly in 2022.
This was after a disagreement between the organisers, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), and the participating clubs over the competition’s prize money.
With the Federation Cup winners picking Nigeria’s second CAF Confederation Cup ticket, NFF had to nominate Kwara United of Ilorin who finished fourth in the 2021/2022 NPFL to represent Nigeria.
This year, it has taken the NFF so much time to finally arrive at starting the national competition.
This was in spite of several of the qualifiers having emerged from the state FA Cup finals since late March.
A few of the qualifiers however just emerged some days ago, while one of the states did not even have qualifiers, leaving the competition with only 72 participants instead of 74.
After the National Playoffs however, the eight winners will join 56 other participants in the draw to proceed to the Round of 64 scheduled for April 26.
The Round of 32 matches have been scheduled for May 3, with the Round of 16 slated for May 10 and the quarter-finals to take place on May 17.
The semi-finals will come up on May 24, with the grand finale on May 27.
National Playoff Fixtures:
Novia FC (Adamawa) vs Ashana FC (Taraba) —- Pantami Stadium, Gombe
Katukan Tsafe FC (Zamfara) vs Yelwa United (Kebbi) —- Giginya Memorial Stadium, Sokoto
Smart City Feeders (Lagos) vs Bendel Insurance Feeders (Edo) —- Ilorin Township Stadium
Kogi United Feeders (Kogi) vs Lautai FC (Jigawa) —- Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna
FR Ebunuju (Imo) vs PCM FC (Ebonyi) —— Awka Township Stadium
Osevan FC (Delta) vs Ahudiya FC (Abia) —- Godswill Akpabio Stadium, Uyo
Red & Black FC (Benue) vs Edel FC (Anambra) —— Akanu Ibiam Stadium, Owerri
ABJ FC (Bauchi) vs Nya-Sa Gwang FC (Taraba) —- Fufure Stadium, Yola
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