Organisers of Naija Super Eight Championship, Flykite Productions, have announced that North-Central teams, Lobi Stars of Makurdi and City FC of Abuja, will slug it out in the opening fixture of the competition at Eket Township Stadium, on June 23.

The play-offs, which will see two teams with the highest vote tallies from the same geo-political zone take on each other in a single elimination match to determine the zonal representatives at the finals in Lagos, will stage two games daily at the Eket Township Stadium, from June 23 to 25.

Also on the same day, 3SC of Ibadan will go head-to-head with Remo Stars of Ikenne for the ticket to represent the Southwest geo-political zone. The second matchday will see Yobe Stars of Damaturu in action against Gombe United for the chance to represent the Northeast geo-political zone. It will also see a clash between two legacy clubs, Enyimba of Aba and Heartland of Owerri.

The final day will see Kano Pillars taking on Katsina United, as well as Rivers United dueling with Bendel Insurance for the tickets to represent Northwest and South-south geo-political zones at the finals at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Lagos, from July 7 to 16.

Winners of the play-off matches will be joined by two wildcard clubs to be determined by the organisers. Teams for the play-offs were unveiled at a ceremony in Lagos last Friday, following the release of the fan voting exercise authenticated by Deloitte, the globally-renowned audit firm. The total number of votes during the month-long voting phase was 1, 926, 495.

Mentors for the eight clubs participating in the finals were also unveiled. They are ex-internationals, Augustine Eguavoen, Mutiu Adepoju, Garba Lawal, Ike Shorunmu, Julius Aghahowa, Tijani Babangida and Victor Ezeji. (The Guardian)

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