Founded | 1942 |
---|---|
Number of teams | 74 |
Qualifier for | Nigeria Super Cup CAF Confederation Cup |
Current champions | El-Kanemi Warriors (3rd title) |
Most successful club(s) | Shooting Stars FC (8 titles) |
2024 Nigeria Federation Cup |
The Nigeria Federation Cup (known as the Tingo Cup due to sponsorship reasons) is the main football single-elimination tournament in Nigeria contested by 74 teams, representing the 36 states + 1 FCT of Nigeria. It is the Nigerian domestic cup and the Nigerian equivalent of the FA Cup, Emperor's Cup, Copa do Brasil, Coupe de France, and Hrvatski nogometni kup, among others. The tournament was created in 1945 as the "Governor's Cup",[1] succeeding the War Memorial Challenge Cup that had been limited to teams from Lagos.
The tournament, as the Governor's Cup, was initially dominated by Lagosian teams, later it was known as the Nigeria FA Cup from (1954–1959), Nigeria Challenge Cup (1960–1998), Coca-Cola FA Cup (1999–2008) and Nigeria Federation Cup (2009–2016). Between 2017 and 2022, the competition was sponsored by the AITEO group and known as the AITEO Cup including the women's tournament.[2]
On 8 August 2021, Bayelsa became the first state to have two clubs win the FA cup in the men's and women's editions in the same year.[3] Shooting Stars are the most successful club, having won the competition eight times, followed by the defunct Lagos Railways with 7 titles and Enugu Rangers with six titles.
El-Kanemi Warriors are the current champions, with the 2024 tournament victory giving them their third Nigeria FA Cup title.