With the country’s domestic cup competition, the Aiteo Cup, still ongoing the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was put in a difficult bind when it came to selecting a fourth team to represent the country in CAF interclub competition because of the deadline for submission. The winner of the cup competition typically competes in the next season’s CAF Confederation Cup but due to needing to submit a team, the NFF elected to give its second spot in the Confederation Cup to Kwara United who finished fourth place in the top division Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), joining third place side Remo Stars in the competition.
While Kwara United and its supporters celebrated the decision the clubs who are still competing in the current edition of the Aiteo Cup are feeling hard done by. The eight clubs who advanced to the quarterfinals over the weekend are now threatening to pull out of the competition since there is no spot in the Confederation Cup awaiting the winner of the competition. The NFF is coming under fire from football supporters in the country as well as the NPFL Club Owners Association, whose president Isaac Danladi questioned the decision while urging patience with the decision making process.
More on the decision is below from Nigerian media.