A historical final in Nigeria’s oldest football competition, the Federation Cup awaits football fans. Nasarawa United made it through to the final after shocking Enyimba 1-0. The Solid Miners are in the finals for the first time in their history after reaching the semi-final 3 times. They Nnewi based side FC IfeanyiUbah who are also appearing in the final for the first time ever defeated lethal second tier club, Crown FC to make the historical feat.
Road to the Final
Nasarawa United proved to be resilient as they bounced from a disappoint start to the league campaign and an awful outing in the continent to reach the final stage of the Fed. Cup. They walked over Abuja FC in the premilinary stage of the Cup.
Nasarawa United 3-0 FC Abuja (walk over)
Nasarawa United 1-0 Go-round FC
Nasarawa United 1-0 Dynamite FC
Nasarawa United 4-2 Akwa United (Pen)
Nasarawa United 1-0 Enyimba Int’l
Coach Kabir Dogo had led the Lafia based club to two Fed. Cup outing and is playing the final on his second attempt.
FC IfeanyiUbah’s goal before the football season began was, amongst other things, to secure a continental ticket. Apparently they have lost a continental spot by virtue of the league standing, this heaps a lot of pressure on the lads and they are bent of clinching the Cup title that will see them represent Nigeria in the CAF Confederation Cup. Their emergence to the final had some controversial undertone. The Anambra Warriors meeting with Katstina United, Warri Wolves and Crown FC had the referees harassed due to alleged bias officiating in favour of FC IfeanyiUbah.
FC IfeanyiUbah 1-0 Ebonyi Angels
FC IfeanyiUbah 1-0 Lobi Stars
FC IfeanyiUbah 2-0 Katsina United.
FC IfeanyiUbah 1-0 Warri Wolves
FC IfeanyiUbah 2-1 Crown FC
For a good number of years, the Fed. Cup has dragged on without a sponsor. The panache associated with this competition is on steady decline.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Federation Cup (aka Challenge Cup) is the main football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria. It was created in 1945 as the “Governor’s Cup”,succeeding the War Memorial Challenge Cup that had been limited to teams from Lagos.
