BY RAYMOND NWADUBA
No fewer than 84 teams will do battle in this year’s Lagos FA Cup competition which begins January 22 – February 23, 2025 organisers have disclosed.
According to the Lagos State Football Association, LSFA, Vice Chairman, Adedotun Cooker, 80 male teams with four female sides will be participating in the 2025 edition of the competition which is the oldest cup competition in Nigeria.
Cooker made this disclosure during the draws held at the LSFA Secretariat in Lagos on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.
The preliminary matches of the competition will be hosted by Legacy pitch Surulere Lagos and the New Maracana Stadium in Ajegunle before it will be extended to other centers across Lagos as the tournament progresses, Cooker noted.
“A total of 84 teams, 80 male teams with four female sides have registered and will be participating in this year’s Lagos FA cup competition”.
”The preliminary round of matches will begin at the Legacy Pitch and the Maracana Stadium, Ajegunle, Lagos, but as the competition progresses, we will extend it to other centers in the state for inclusiveness and for the FA cup fever to resonate in the entire city”, Cooker emphasized.
The tournament will see 28 rookie football teams begin the competition in the first preliminary round as captured in the draws which had club representatives, stakeholders, journalists and LSFA officials in attendance.
The winner of the knock out pairing will move into the next round where they will come up against more experienced teams that have been drawn bye, which will serve as passage into the round of 32 where the defending champion and other established teams will be waiting in the wings to join the competition.
Coker who represented the Chairman, Liameed Gafar reassured the participating teams that this year’s edition would meet their expectations, even as it would be better in terms of organization, logistics and officiating which has raised concerns in the past.
He though warned that the FA will be strict and hard on erring teams that will not abide by the rules governing the competition.
Clubs were told to customize their jerseys beginning from the quarter finals while players must strictly stick to a particularly number throughout the competition.
Ikorodu City FC are the defending champions while a new king is awaited to emerge in the finals that will be played at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena Onikan Lagos.
The eventual winners will play under the platform of Lagos state at the national competition.
Below is the rookie knockout fixtures:
Kakawa FC Vs Royalty FC
Diadem Stallion FC Vs Arubinjaga FC
Dijon FA Vs Burna Boys FA
Prince Kazeem Eletu FC Vs Innovator FC
Hephzibah FC Vs Fackson Tofida FC
Vido FC Vs Ibeju Lekki United FC
Seamoriow FC Vs Swift FC
Ona-Ara FC Vs Ikorodu City FA.
FC Middlewell Vs Seamoriow FA
China Sun Stars FC Vs Gemstone
Oba’s FA Vs Okaka Academy
Great Height Vs Unification FC
L City Vs Orin FC
Millennium Family FC Vs Osykay FC
