Nigeria’s oldest football competition, Federation Cup, gets April kick-off date

Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced that the draw ceremony for this year’s Federation Cup will be held on Wednesday, 19th April.

The national competition, which was postponed in 2022, is set to kick off in the coming weeks.

In a statement made available to Soccernet.ng, the NFF has scheduled that eight matches will be played on Tuesday, 18th April, as part of the national playoff.

The Round of 64 matches will take place on Wednesday, 26th April, followed by the Round of 32 on Wednesday, 3rd May. The Round of 16 will be played on Wednesday, 10th May, with the quarter-finals taking place a week later on Wednesday, 17th May.

The semi-finals will be held on Wednesday, 24th May, while the final will be played on Saturday, 27th May.

The winner of the competition, as well as the third-placed team in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), will represent Nigeria in the 2024 edition of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation Cup.

This means a lot is at stake for the teams competing in the Federation Cup.

It would be recalled that the 2022 edition of the Federation Cup was inconclusive due to various challenges, and the NFF announced no winner. However, Kwara United was awarded the winner's slot to participate in the CAF Confederation Cup.

The Federation Cup is one of the most prestigious football competitions in Nigeria, and football fans across the country eagerly anticipate it. The competition has a long history, having been first played in 1945.