Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), through its Director of Competitions Ruth David, has confirmed the commencement date for this year’s President Federation Cup, www.aclsports.com reports.
David, announced in a statement on Monday that the state preliminary rounds of the country’s oldest football competition, the President Federation Cup, will be held between March 22 and April 26.
She also disclosed that clubs that fail to honour fixtures in the national preliminary stage of this year’s competition will face a fine of ₦1 million. In addition, any club that fails to show up for a match after completing registration at the state level will be required to pay a fine of ₦500,000.
According to the statement from the NFF, the State finals must be played on either Saturday, April 25 or Sunday, April 26. Following this, the Football Associations in all states and the FCT are expected to submit the names of their two finalists for entry into the national competition.
The release of the timetable for the Federation Cup has drawn criticism from football stakeholders, as the competition has repeatedly become known for starting behind schedule.
It will be recalled that Kwara United defeated Abakaliki FC in last year’s final in the men’s category, while Rivers Angels staged a dramatic comeback to beat Nasarawa Amazons in the women’s category. Meanwhile, sources informed ACLSports that the winners have not been paid their prize money yet.
