Federation Cup 2023: State FA Cup dates confirmed

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has released the schedules and fixtures for this year’s Federation Cup competition.

The 2023 men’s and women’s State FA Cup in all the 36 States and F.C.T. will start on February 18 and end not later than March 19.

Registration of clubs for the respective State FA Cups will hold from January 16 to 30, while players’ licensing is scheduled to run from January 31 to February 6.

March 20 is the deadline for the States and F.C.T. FAs to forward names of their men’s and women’s representatives for the national finals.

However, dates for the national finals will be determined by the NFF later.

Last year’s edition ended prematurely: The men’s finals couldn’t get past the quarter-finals after Lobi Stars and Kano Pillars boycotted their respective quarter-final games, following the NFF’s nomination of Kwara United as Nigeria’s fourth team in CAF competitions — a spot usually allotted to winners of the FA Cup.

The women’s finals also ended abruptly, following Rivers Angels withdrawal in the first round and ten abandoned matches.

Rivers Angels cited unavailability of seven of their players — due to national assignments — as reason for pulling out of the competition.