The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on Monday in Abuja fixed the dates and venues for the group preliminaries round of the 2010 Federation Cup.
At the competition’s group draw held at the NFF Secretariat, federation officials and participating club officials present on the occasion agreed on June 15 to June 20 for the round’s matches.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 16 clubs which had last week qualified for the round from the competition’s Round of 32 had earlier been drawn into four groups.
This grouping, contrary to the competition fixtures chart which emerged at the national draw held some weeks ago, was done by staff of NFF’s National Competitions Department.
“The dates for the competition June 15 to June 20, with June 14 as arrival date for the participating clubs and June 21 as departure date,’’ Dr Sanusi Mohammed, NFF’s Assistant General Secretary (Competitions) said.
He listed the venues as Kano as Group A, Ibadan as Group B, Makurdi as Group C and Port Harcourt as Group D.
“Group A has Akwa Starlets of Uyo, Rangers International of Enugu, Sunshine Stars of Akure and Gateway FC of Abeokuta.
“Group B has Gray’s International of Ede, Kano Pillars FC, Ocean Boys FC of Brass and Heartland FC of Owerri,’’ Mohammed said.
He also said JUTH FC of Jos, defending champions Enyimba International of Aba, 2006 champions Dolphin FC of Port Harcourt and Akwa United of Uyo are in Group C in Makurdi.
“Group D in Port Harcourt has UNICEM Rovers of Calabar, Niger Tornadoes of Minna, Kaduna United FC and Kwara United FC of Ilorin, ‘’ the NFF official added.
Mohammed said the competition’s quarter-finals round would hold on June 22 at the four centres, with the Group A winners taking on Group C runners-up in Kano.
“Group B winners will face Group D runners-up in Ibadan, while Group C winners will take on Group B runners-up in Makurdi and Group D winners meet Group A runners-up in Port Harcourt,’’ he said.
The NFF Assistant General Secretary said the semi-finals, which no dates and venues had yet been fixed, had the quarter-finals winners in Kano meeting the winners from Ibadan.
“The winners in the quarter-finals at Port Harcourt will face the winners from Makurdi,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the third-place and final matches, which have also yet to have specific dates, have been scheduled for the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos. (NAN)
