No fewer than 24 teams will compete for honours in this year’s CBN All Financial Institutions’ Football Competition (AFIFC) which kicks off on Saturday in two centres.
Osita Nwanisobi, Director, Corporate Communications Department, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), disclosed this at a news conference in Abuja.
He said that the preliminary and quarter final matches of the competition had been scheduled for Lafia, Nasarawa State and Osogbo, Osun, while the semi-finals will be played at Uyo Township Stadium on Sept. 22.
“The group stages of the competition will hold between Sept. 11 and Sept. 16, with the quarter finals scheduled for Sept. 19 in the two centres of Lafia and Osogbo,” he said.
Nwanisobi said that the competition, sponsored by CBN, in collaboration with Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), would have the finals and third place matches decided at U.J. Esuene Stadium, Calabar, on Sept. 25.
The CBN spokesman also gave the breakdown of the prize money for this year’s winners, saying that the overall winner taking home N2 million naira.
“The winner will pocket N2 million, while the runners-up will receive N1.5 million. The second runners-up and the fourth-placed teams will receive the sums of N1 million and N500,000, respectively,” he added.
According to him, ex-internationals, such as Friday Ekpo and other dignitaries will be gracing the final as special guests, stressing that the games will be played in strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols.
He noted that the competition was part of CBN’s commitment to promotion and development of sporting activities in Nigeria, through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) window.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the CBN football club won the 2019 AFIFC competition, after beating Unity Bank FC by a lone goal at Pa Ngele Oruta Stadium (former Abakaliki Township Stadium).
The competition, however, did not hold in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (NAN)
