Kaduna hosts 2009 CBN Cup final

The  facilities in Kaduna that hosted some of the games of the recent Fifa Under-17 World Cup would face yet another test as it hosts the final of this year’s CBN All Financial Institutions Football Competition, which has been scheduled to hold next month.

Adeoye Ogunlana, who heads the Governor’s office of the Central Bank of Nigeria, said the preliminary matches will kick off on  November 30, in Lagos, Abeokuta, Jos and Kaduna; while the quarter-final matches are to be played in the four zonal centres, with the semi-final matches in Kaduna and Lagos.

The Orange CAF Champions league match between Heartland FC of Owerri and TP Mazembe FC of Congo DR held at the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri, Heartland FC won 2-0. A group photograph of Heartland FC of Owerri. Photo by Sylva Eleanya. 12/9/2009.

The tournament, which has sixteen teams, Ogunlana said, has Group A matches in Lagos where FinBank, Intercontinental Bank, Spring Bank and Standard Chartered Bank trade tackle for honours; while Group B in Abeokuta will feature First Bank, Afribank, Union Bank and First City Monument Bank football teams.

Teams that will play in group C in Kaduna, Ogunlana said, are Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Finance, Fortis Microfinance Bank and Kaka Dusa Microfinance Bank; while group D matches in Jos will involve teams from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, Federal Inland Revenue Service, Unity Bank and Sadiqma Microfinance Bank.

The winner of this year’s edition will take home N1 million, the second place team will pocket N750,000, third place team N500,000 while the fourth-placed team will get N350,000.

“An interesting twist to this event is the fact that apart from deposit money banks and several agencies of government, microfinance banks are among the registered teams.

“It shows that the impact of the competition is being felt at the grassroots level where raw talents are discovered and developed”, Adeoye Ogunlana said.