The ongoing All Nigeria Secondary Schools football Championship has entered the zonal preliminary stage. The state Champions will now converge in nine cities across the country to determine which teams will move to the quarter finals of the Championship.
The Zonal preliminaries will begin on Tuesday, April 28th while the teams are expected to be at their various zones on the evening of Monday April, 27th.
In Osogbo, NNPC/Shell Cup champions from Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, and Lagos state will fight for the available quarter-final ticket in the zone while in Ado Ekiti, the sole quarter- final ticket in the zone will be fought for by schools from Ekiti, Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states.
Other cities that would host the Zonal preliminary matches are Enugu where Anambra, Imo, Benue and Cross River would battle for supremacy and the Samson Siasia Stadium in Yenegoa where Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu and Akwa-Ibom will slug it out for the quarter final ticket.
Lokoja will host Nasarawa, Bauchi, Taraba and Plateau state champions.
Meanwhile, the NNPC/Shell Cup champions from Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa and Borno states will play their zonal preliminaries in Jalingo,
Also according to the fixtures released by the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), Niger, Katsina, Kaduna and FCT are to play in Keffi while the newly completed stadium in Katsina will host Jigawa, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara states.
The zonal preliminaries will be concluded on May 1st with 10 schools emerging as quarter finalists.
The organizers according to national coordinator, Shola Akinwale reiterated that matches would be played at 2pm and 4pm each day while admission to all venues of NNPC/Shell Cup matches are free.
