Rivers to battle Insurance, 3SC face Remo in maiden edition of Naija Super 8

Rivers United have been drawn against Bendel Insurance for the south-south zonal play-off at the maiden edition of the Naija Super 8 competition. 

The 12 clubs participating in the tourney were unveiled on Friday in Lagos.

According to Flykite production, the competition organisers, all the participating clubs were selected based on the votes polled by fans from April 10 to May 12, which was computed by Deloitte.

The two teams with the most votes from each of the six geopolitical zones were selected.

The selected teams from each zone will face each other in the zonal play-off billed for Eket Township Stadium in Akwa Ibom from June 23 to June 25.

The play-off winners would go on to represent their zones in the Naija Super 8 scheduled for July 7 to July 16 at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos.

The six zonal representatives would be joined by two wildcard teams to be decided by the organisers.

In the north-central zone, City FC Abuja will contend with Lobi Stars for a place in the tourney while Yobe Stars and Gombe United will try out for north-east representatives.

The north-west zone is Kano Pillars against Katsina United, and Enyimba will take on Heartland FC for the south-east berth.

Shooting Stars FC would battle Remo Stars for the south-west slot.

Former Super Eagles players will mentor the final eight teams to qualify for the competition.

The mentors are Tijani Babangida, Mutiu Adepoju, Ike Shorunmu, Jonathan Akpoborie, Garba Lawal, Austin Eguavoen, Victor Ezeji and Julius Aghahowa.

The tourney winners will go home with N25 million, and the runner-up will get N9 million, while teams earn N3 million per game.

ZONAL PLAY-OFF FIXTURES

North-central

City FC Abuja vs Lobi Stars

North-West

Kano Pillars vs Katsina Utd

North-East

Yobe Stars vs Gombe United

South-East

Enyimba vs Heartland

South-west

3SC vs Remo Stars

South-south

Rivers United vs Bendel Insurance