Nigerians Await Unveiling of Federation Cup Sponsors

The premier football competition in the country, the Federation Cup which began as Governor’s Cup in 1945 may have a new title sponsor next week.

Sports Village Square gathered from the Director of Communications in the NFF, Ademola Olajire, that the new sponsors will be unveiled next week.

He denied speculations placed on some WhatsApp platforms that the final matches of this year’s edition will hold at the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenegoa, Bayelsa State.

“No such decision has been reached”, he said emphatically to Sports Village Square. The competition previously sponsored by a soft drink company with global network had been without sponsors for nearly eight years now.

The competition is also running behind schedule. The national draw was supposed to have been held on May 31after the original field of 510 clubs that entered for the 2017 Nigeria Federation Cup was narrowed 74 following the conclusion of the State FA Cup finals across the country.
Sports Village Square gathered that 20 teams designated as rookies will have playoff in which 10 of them will emerge to join the rest and form a pool of 64.
The Federation Cup which began in 1945 as Governor’s Cup. Following changes in the Nigerian Constitution, the Annual General Meeting of the then Nigeria Football Association (NFA) on February 28, 1955 adopted the “Nigerian Challenge Cup” as the official name of the competition.

Another change of name was effected in 1999 when Coca-Cola became the title sponsors. The competition became “Coca-Cola FA Cup”.

On June 3, 2009, Ademola Olajire, then Chief Media Officer of the NFF, through a press release revealed the change from FA Cup to Federation Cup while announcing the draw for the final competition of the 2009 edition. No dates have been announced for the finals of the 2017 edition.