Bendel Insurance, Bayelsa Queens win 2023 Nigerian Federation Cup titles
After 43 years, Bendel Insurance are the champions of the Nigerian Federation Cup, also known as the Nigerian FA Cup, thanks to a slim 1-0 win over Enugu Rangers at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, Delta state on Wednesday evening.
Bendel Insurance started the season on a very high note and finished the 2022/23 abridged Nigeria Premier League season with an 18-match unbeaten run but fell off at the Championship Super 6 playoffs, where the Benin Arsenal finished fifth with two defeats and three draws.
But Insurance’s ultimate hopes of finishing the season with silverware and the coveted opportunity to play in the continent next season lies in the FA Cup final and eventually did everything right in Asaba as Imade Osarenkhoe’s first half goal from a spot kick sealed the victory for the Edo state-owned club.
It was Bendel Insurance’s fourth Federation Cup title in the club’s history and their first since 1980. For winning the title, Insurance will receive the cash prize of 15 million naira and clinch the ticket as Nigeria’s second representative in next season’s CAF Confederation Cup.
Meanwhile, Bayelsa United defeated former champions Rivers Angels 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the women’s division’s final to emerge the Federation Cup winner.
The tightly-contested encounter ended goalless in regulation time, which immediately saw the game go into penalties to decide a winner. Bayelsa Queens only failed to convert one of the kicks to win the shootouts, lifting the Nigerian Federation Cup for the fifth time in the club’s history.
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