Sponsorship deal delays Federation Cup

Th e Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) have disclosed that the 74-team national playoff s of this year’s Federation Cup are yet to commence because they are yet to fi nalise a title sponsorship deal worth 2.5 billion Naira for the cup competition. NFF general secretary Mohammed Sanusi said everything is being done to ensure the sponsorship deal is in place before the cup competition, which has now moved to the national playoff s following the state FA fi nals. “By now we should have been halfway through the competition, but the new sponsorship deal has yet to besigned, but it is almost done and we hope to conclude with the prospective sponsors soon,” Sanusi said in Abuja “We have been meeting on this and very soon the national playoff s will begin.” Sanusi hinted the new sponsorship will be fi nancially benefi cial to the participating clubs with a record prize money to be paid to the cup winners. Th e country’s longest running competition has struggled for sponsorship since Coca-Cola pulled out as title sponsors several years ago. FC Ifeanyiubah won last year’s competition and represented Nigeria in the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup