CBN AFIFC kicks off Today 

The 35th edition of the All Financial Institutions Football Competition (AFIFC), sponsored by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in collaboration with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has been scheduled to kick off today with 20 teams expected to fight for the star prize of N2 million. 

A statement by the Director Corporate Communications Department of the CBN, Osita Nwanisobi, disclosed that preliminary matches of the competition would be played in two zones of Kano and Akure, where the participating teams, comprising regulators, deposit money banks and other financial institutions, would play each other in two groups of 10 each. The quarter-final matches are also billed to hold in Kano and Akure on Saturday, November 27, 2022, while the semi-finals have been scheduled for Bauchi on December 6, 2022. The finals of the competition will be decided at the Pantami Township Stadium, Gombe, Gombe State, on December 10, 2022. 

According to the statement, the competition promotes unity, harmony, and peaceful co-existence among key players in Nigeria’s financial system. Other prizes to be awarded at the competition are N1,500,000 for the runners-up, N1,000,000 for the bronze medal winners, and N500,000 for the fourth-placed team. 

It further disclosed that the CBN and the NFF had concluded plans to have Mr. Garba Lawal, a former Nigerian International, as Special Guest at the finals. This is to serve as a significant boost for participating teams. 

The CBN, therefore, urged all the teams that are registered to participate actively and exhibit an unrelenting spirit of sportsmanship, adding that it remains committed to making positive contributions to the promotion and development of the game of football by sponsoring the competition annually, which is in line with the Bank’s corporate social responsibility.