The Awka City stadium has been alive for the past 3 days as top Nigerian Premier Football League sides, Nigerian National League sides, and Nigerian Women Football League sides have been converging for the past four days at the state-of-the-art edifice at the center of the Anambra state capital.
On Wednesday, 6 clubs from 6 different states in the nation did battle to know which of the 3 will progress to the round of 32.
It was a festival of good football from start to finish. Ebedei of Ekiti state got the better of Hope of Glory 3-0 who was a show. Warri Wolves beat Beyond Limits by 4 unreplied goals. Then the best was saved for the last as Lobi Stars progressed via the skin of their teeth as they got better of FC One Rocket via a penalty shootout after duration time ended 2-2. The match was captivating and the fans who made their way to the stadium had kind words for the state Governor and the FA Chairman for making this happen, the first time Light of the Nation-state will be hosting more than one game in a round of the Federation Cup.
Mr Chidi Obiorah after seeing the game, spoke with Anambra FA TV and appreciated those that made this possible. That it is on record that this is the first time that our state will host 3 national FA Cup games. He pointed out the fact the footballing renaissance of Gen. Chikelue Iloenyosi is in line with the sporting vision of the state Governor, His Excellency Prof Chukwuma Soludo. Another fan, who chose to be addressed as Mr Obinna, he was of the opinion that sports and football in particular will get a whole lot better under the sporting vision of the Soludo administration. He believes that bigger clubs’ sides will be coming in the next rounds of the competition. He enumerated the benefits of having such big clubs around, the hospitality business will boom and even SMEs will feel the impact of this as well.
On Friday 28th of April, the top two NWFL sides, Edo Queens and Sunshine Stars will play against each other for a place in the later round of the Federation Cup. Then on Saturday, April 29th, Edel FC an Anambra second division campaigner will take on Ibom Youths of Akwa Ibom state, the last one will come up on Sunday 30th of April as Enugu Rangers will tackle struggling Wikki Tourist of Bauchi on a league game. This will round off nearly one week of premium Naija-made football.
All these games were attracted by the FA Chairman of Anambra state Gen Chikelue Iloenyosi. According to Iloenyosi, these top-level games are in line with the sporting administration of the state Governor, His Excellency Prof Chukwuma Soludo. He emphasized that he is on board with His Excellency and will make sure that he succeeds especially from the football angle. The General as fondly called emphasized that football is the easiest way to get the Youths to be law abiding and productive.
