Nigeria Federation Cup

Federation Cup
Founded1942
Number of teams74
Qualifier forNigeria Super Cup
CAF Confederation Cup
Current championsKwara United (1st title)
Most successful club(s)Shooting Stars FC (8 titles)
2025 Nigeria Federation Cup

The Nigeria Federation Cup is the main football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria contested by 74 teams, representing the 36 states and the FCT of Nigeria. It is the Nigerian domestic cup and the Nigerian equivalent of the FA Cup, Emperor's Cup, Copa do Brasil, Coupe de France, and Hrvatski nogometni kup, among others. The tournament was created in 1945 as the "Governor's Cup",[1] succeeding the War Memorial Challenge Cup that had been limited to teams from Lagos.

The tournament, as the Governor's Cup, was initially dominated by Lagosian teams, later it was known as the Nigeria FA Cup from (1954–1959), Nigeria Challenge Cup (1960–1998), Coca-Cola FA Cup (1999–2008) and Nigeria Federation Cup (2009–2016). Between 2017 and 2022, the competition was sponsored by the AITEO group and known as the AITEO Cup including the women's tournament.[2]

On 8 August 2021, Bayelsa became the first state to have two clubs win the FA cup in the men's and women's editions in the same year.[3] Shooting Stars are the most successful club, having won the competition eight times, followed by the defunct Lagos Railways with 7 titles and Enugu Rangers with six titles.

Kwara United are the current champions, with the 2024 tournament victory giving them their maiden Nigeria FA Cup title.

Format

The competition is a single elimination knockout tournament featuring 74 teams from the 36 states and 1 from the FCT in Nigeria. All clubs qualify via their states cup championships, the winners and runners-up of each state cup championship qualifies for the tournament regardless of their position at the Nigerian football league system. A 'Rookie' play-off will be held for the 20 lowest ranked clubs, the 10 winners then joins the remaining 54 at the first round. All matches are held at neutral venues.

The winner qualifies automatically for the next season's CAF Confederation Cup or the runners-up if the winner had already qualified for a CAF club competition based on league's position.

Finals

Year Winners Score Runners-up
War Memorial Challenge Cup
1942 ZAC Bombers 1–0 Services
1943 Lagos Marine 3–2 RAF
1944 Lagos Railways 2–0 Marine
1945 Lagos Railways 1–1 (4–1) Lagos United
Governors Cup
1945 Marine 1–0 Corinthians
1946 Lagos Railways 3–1 Port Harcourt FC
1947 Marine 3–1 Lagos Railways
1948 Lagos Railways 1–0 Warri
1949 Lagos Railways 3–0 Port Harcourt FC
1950 Lagos UAC 3–2 Port Harcourt FC
1951 Lagos Railways 3–2 Jos Plateau Highlanders
1952 Lagos PAN Bank 6–0 Warri
1953 Kano Pillars 2–1 Lagos Dynamos
FA Cup
1954 St. Patrick's College 3–0 Kano Pillars
1955 Port Harcourt FC 4–1 Warri
1956 Lagos Railways 3–1 Warri
1957 Lagos Railways 5–1 Zaria
1958 Port Harcourt FC 6–0 Federal United
1959 Ibadan Lions 1–0 Police
Challenge Cup
1960 Lagos ECN 5–2 Ibadan Lions
1961 Ibadan Lions 1–0 Lagos UAC
1962 Police 1–0 Jos Plateau Highlanders
1963 Port Harcourt FC 1–0 Jos Plateau Highlanders
1964 Lagos Railways 3–1 Jos Plateau Highlanders
1965 Lagos ECN 3–1 Jos Plateau Highlanders
1966 Ibadan Lions w/o Jos Plateau Highlanders
1967 Stationery Stores 3–1 Jos Plateau Highlanders
1968 Stationery Stores 3–1 (replay) Plateau United
1969 Ibadan Lions 5–1 Warri
1970 Lagos ECN 3–1 Mighty Jets
1971 WNDC Ibadan 2–1 Enugu Rangers
1972 Bendel Insurance 2–2 (3–2 replay) Mighty Jets
1973
No competition
1974 Enugu Rangers 2–0 Mighty Jets
1975 Enugu Rangers 1–0 Shooting Stars
1976 Enugu Rangers 2–0 Alyufsalam Rocks
1977 Shooting Stars 2–0 Racca Rovers
1978 Bendel Insurance 3–0 Enugu Rangers
1979 Shooting Stars 2–0 Sharks FC
1980 Bendel Insurance 1–0 Stationery Stores
1981 Enugu Rangers 2–0 Bendel Insurance
1982 Stationery Stores 4–1 Niger Tornadoes
1983 Enugu Rangers 0–0 (5–4 p) DIC Bees
1984 Leventis United 1–0 Abiola Babes
1985 Abiola Babes 0–0 (6–5 p) BCC Lions
1986 Leventis United 1–0 Abiola Babes
1987 Abiola Babes 1–1 (7–6 p) Ranchers Bees
1988 Iwuanyanwu Nationale 3–0 Flash Flamingoes
1989 BCC Lions 1–0 Iwuanyanwu Nationale
1990 Stationery Stores 0–0 (5–4 p) Enugu Rangers
1991 El-Kanemi Warriors 3–2 Kano Pillars
1992 El-Kanemi Warriors 1–0 Stationery Stores
1993 BCC Lions 1–0 Plateau United
1994 BCC Lions 1–0 Julius Berger
1995 Shooting Stars 2–0 Katsina United
1996 Julius Berger 1–0 (a.p.) Katsina United
1997 BCC Lions 1–0 Katsina United
1998 Wikki Tourists 0-0(a.e.t.)(3–2 p) Plateau United
Coca-Cola FA Cup
1999 Plateau United 1–0 Iwuanyanwu Nationale
2000 Niger Tornadoes 1–0 Enugu Rangers
2001 Dolphins FC 2–0 El-Kanemi Warriors
2002 Julius Berger 3–0 Yobe Desert Stars
2003 Lobi Stars 2–0 Sharks FC
2004 Dolphins FC 1–0 Enugu Rangers
2005 Enyimba 1–1(a.e.t.)(6–5 p) Lobi Stars
2006 Dolphins FC 2-2(a.e.t.)(5–3 p) Bendel Insurance
2007 Dolphins FC 1–1(a.e.t.)(3–2 p) Enugu Rangers
2008 Ocean Boys 2–2 (a.e.t.)(7–6 p) Gombe United
Federation Cup
2009 Enyimba 1–0 Sharks FC
2010 Kaduna United 3–3 (a.e.t.)(3–2 p) Enyimba
2011 Heartland 1–0 Enyimba
2012 Heartland 2–1 Lobi Stars
2013 Enyimba 2–2 (a.e.t.) (5–4 p) Warri Wolves
2014 Enyimba 2–1 Dolphins FC
2015 Akwa United 2–1 Lobi Stars
2016 Ifeanyi Ubah 0–0 (5–4 p) Nasarawa United[4]
2017 Akwa United 0–0 (3–2 p) Niger Tornadoes[5]
2018 Enugu Rangers 3–3 (4–3 p) Kano Pillars[6]
2019 Kano Pillars 0–0 (4–3 p) Niger Tornadoes
2020
Cancelled[a]
2021 Bayelsa United 2–2 (4–3 p) Nasarawa United
2022
Abandoned at the quarter-finals
2023 Bendel Insurance 1–0 Enugu Rangers
2024 El-Kanemi Warriors 2–0 Abia Warriors
2025 Kwara United 0–0 (4–3 p) Abakaliki
  1. ^ The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Total (not including War Memorial Cup)

Club Titles
Shooting Stars (Ibadan) [includes Ibadan Lions and WNDC] 8
Lagos Railways (Lagos) 8
Enugu Rangers (Enugu) 6
Bendel Insurance (Benin City) 4
BCC Lions (Gboko) 4
Dolphins FC (Port-Harcourt) [formerly known as Eagle Cement] 4
Stationery Stores (Lagos) 4
Enyimba (Aba) 4
El-Kanemi Warriors (Maiduguri) 3
Iwuanyanwu Nationale/Heartland (Owerri) 3
Lagos ECN (Lagos) (later renamed NEPA) 3
Port Harcourt FC (Port Harcourt) 3
Kano Pillars (Kano) 2
Abiola Babes (Abeokuta) 2
Akwa United (Uyo) 2
Julius Berger (Lagos) 2
Leventis United (Ibadan) 2
Marine (Lagos) 2
St Patrick's College (Calabar) 1
Ifeanyi Ubah (Nnewi) 1
Kaduna United (Kaduna) 1
Lagos PAN Bank (Lagos) 1
Lagos UAC (Lagos) 1
Lobi Stars (Makurdi) 1
Niger Tornadoes (Minna) 1
Ocean Boys (Brass) 1
Plateau United (Jos) 1
Police (Lagos) 1
Wikki Tourists (Bauchi) 1
Bayelsa United (Yenagoa) 1
Kwara United (Ilorin) 1

References

  1. ^ "The Federation Cup... 67 years Of Nigerian History, Through Football". ngrguardiannews.com. 30 September 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Nigerian FA Cup signs 5 year sponsorship deal with Aiteo group". thecable.ng. 28 June 2017.
  3. ^ "Bayelsa teams emerge double 2021 Aiteo cup champions". premiumtimesng.com. 8 August 2021.
  4. ^ Eludini, Tunde (2016-11-06). "FC Ifeanyi Ubah emerge 2016 Federation Cup Champions - Premium Times Nigeria". Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  5. ^ "AITEO Cup: Akwa United beat Tornadoes to win competition – Premium Times Nigeria". Premium Times Nigeria. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Enugu Rangers break 35-year Aiteo Cup jinx". ESPN.com.
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