This year’s men and women Federation Cup competitions will enter into a new gear on Thursday with the national play-off matches, which will be held in five cities in the Federation.
The five centres the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has picked for the play-off games are Gombe, Jos, Katsina, Asaba and Enugu.
Following the conclusion of the men and women competitions in the States last weekend, the NFF received the entry of a total of 70 teams for the national finals.
Yobe State did not register for the competition, while Borno and Adamawa States registered one team each, instead of two.
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The NFF explained that a field that was supposed to be for 74 was whittled down to 70.
According to the organisers, from the list of 70, and based on ranking, 12 teams were selected for the play-off, with the remaining 58 teams on standby.
The six teams that emerge from the play-off matches will join the standby 58 for the National Draw that will have 64 teams.
In the women’s competition, only 31 teams are in the field for the national competition, with only 20 States having registered.
Benue, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Ogun, Osun and Oyo States registered only one team each, while Abia, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Enugu, Kaduna, Lagos, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers and the FCT registered two teams each.
While Bendel Insurance are the defending champions in the men’s competition, Bayelsa Queens are the women’s title holders.
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