By Kunle Solaja.

Former Director General of the National Sports Commission, Dr Patrick Ekeji, has again called on the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to take deliberate steps to restore the prestige of Nigeria’s national football cup competition.

Ekeji, a former international footballer and one of the most experienced administrators in Nigerian sport, reiterated his earlier suggestion that the competition should return to its historic name, the Challenge Cup, arguing that the brand once commanded nationwide passion and respect.

Chatting with Sports Village Square, Ekeji lamented that the competition—now known as the President’s Federation Cup—has lost much of the appeal that once made it one of the most anticipated events in the Nigerian football calendar.

Decades ago, the national cup was a major crowd-puller that captivated football fans across the country, especially during the final stages. Stadiums were packed, and the competition enjoyed massive media attention.

Today, however, the tournament struggles to attract similar interest. Even the national final rarely fills stadiums or commands the level of media attention expected in an era when coverage has expanded from traditional platforms to digital media.

The competition has also faced organisational challenges. In recent seasons, some clubs have withdrawn from fixtures during the national stage of the tournament, prompting the NFF to announce on Monday, the imposition of sanctions, including a ₦1 million fine on teams that fail to honour matches.

Reacting to the situation, Ekeji said the football authorities must undertake a comprehensive review of the competition and the broader domestic football structure.

“The NFF has to rejig the competition along with the NPFL,” he said.

According to him, the financial realities facing Nigerian clubs have also contributed to the tournament’s decline.

“There is no income to owners of clubs, and the businesses are not expanding. Those still running clubs are really struggling and are hardly breaking even,” he said.

Ekeji also raised concerns about broader structural challenges affecting Nigerian football.

“Security is not guaranteed, and our politics is, at best, very unpredictable. As I proposed in my communication with you last year on this subject, the NFF, by not injecting a strong strategy into its management of our football, cannot expect a turnaround in any aspect of the game,” he added.

The veteran sports administrator believes restoring the historic name Challenge Cup could help reconnect the competition with its rich heritage and emotional appeal among Nigerian football fans.

“Challenge Cup resonates in the minds of all football followers in Nigeria and automatically connects with football, its development and followership,” Ekeji said.

“This cup is synonymous with the game in our country, just like the FA Cup is with the game in England, where it has remained so.”

He suggested that commercial sponsors could still benefit from associating with the competition without discarding its traditional identity.

“In my thinking, sponsors of the ever-changing name of this historic competition would gain more mileage if their names are linked to the original name as a suffix, such as: The Challenge Cup — sponsored by…,” he said.

“Indeed, there is something in a name. The Challenge Cup evolved into a brand, but sadly, our younger generation football managers failed to link it up as such.”

Nigeria’s national cup competition has undergone several name changes over the decades.

It began in 1945 as the Governor’s Cup, initially organised as a Lagos-based tournament. At the Annual General Meeting of the then Nigeria Football Association on February 28, 1955, the competition was renamed the Challenge Cup.

The original trophy was donated by Nigeria’s then Governor-General, Lord Milverton, formerly known as Sir Arthur Richards. He died on October 27, 1978—20 days after Bendel Insurance defeated Rangers International in a dramatic final.

Commercial sponsorship later introduced new identities for the competition. In 1999, it became the Coca-Cola FA Cup. In June 2009, the NFF announced another change, renaming it the Federation Cup.

Further sponsorship deals saw it renamed the Aiteo Cup in 2017 and the NFF/Tingo FederationCup in 2023.

In April 2024, during a ceremony in Lagos, the competition was renamed the President’s Federation Cup, the seventh title since the tournament began eight decades ago.

This year marks the 81st anniversary of the national cup competition, an institution that once stood at the heart of Nigerian football culture.

For Ekeji, reviving its historic identity may be the first step toward restoring the prestige it once commanded across the country.

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