As tension and excitement gather heading into the 2025 President Federation Cup final this Saturday at Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onikan, Lagos, lower division side, Abakaliki FC of Ebonyi State have been given a chance to defeat Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) contenders, Kwara United of Ilorin.
Sports247 reports that this comes from a down-to-earth declaration by Bayelsa United of Yenagoa coach, Dipreye Teibowei, who pointed out that the mission before the giant killers from Abakaliki is not an impossible task.
He cited the example of Wimbledon FC, who featured Nigerian-born striker, John Fashanu, as they surprised Liverpool 1-0 in the 1988 English FA Cup final while they were still in the lower division.
Teibowei added that the Ebonyi State-based side can also rise from the rank of outsiders to that of cup-winners if their coach, ex-international striker, Ifeanyi Onyedika can muster his players to glory, the same way he had with the then Green Eagles in the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations final in Lagos.
“It’s a new dimension that is emerging, as we have a team from the lower division in the final, and anything can happen,” said Teibowei.
“The most important thing, though, depends on their coach. If you have a coach who has the courage and knows his onions, that means it would not be an impossible task.
“It happened in England, when Wimbledon won the FA Cup while they were coming from the lower division.”
Sports247 recalls that a similar surprise had also previously been enacted in Nigeria, when then second-tier new arrivals, Leventis United of Ibadan defeated high-flying Abiola Babes of Abeokuta in the 1984 Challenge Cup final
