The Nigeria Federation Cup is the main

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

contested by 74 teams, representing the 36 states and the FCT of

. It is the Nigerian domestic cup and the Nigerian equivalent of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

, Copa do Brasil,

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

, and Hrvatski nogometni kup, among others. The tournament was created in 1945 as the "Governor's Cup", succeeding the War Memorial Challenge Cup that had been limited to teams from

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

. 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. 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. Shooting Stars are the most successful club, having won the competition eight times, followed by the defunct

Lagos Railways Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

with 7 titles and

Enugu Rangers Rangers International Football Club, commonly known as Enugu Rangers, is a Nigerian professional association football team founded in 1970. Based in Enugu, the Rangers play their home games at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium. Enugu Rangers are one ...

with six titles.

El-Kanemi Warriors El-Kanemi Warriors Football Club is a football team based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Their play ground is the El-Kanemi Stadium, Maiduguri. The club is on a positive rebound having gained promotion to the 2024–25 Nigeria Premier Footb ...

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

Format

The competition is a

single elimination A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

knockout tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

featuring 74 teams from the 36 states and 1 from the FCT in

. 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 The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

or the runners-up if the winner had already qualified for a CAF club competition based on league's position.

Finals

Total (not including War Memorial Cup)

References

External links

RSSSF competition historyNigerian Football Online

Super Eagles Nation
{{National football Cups (CAF region) National association football cups Recurring sporting events established in 1960

Fa Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...