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The Enugu State Football Association on Saturday confirmed Coal City United champion of the State Federations Cup Final that took place between the NNL side and Rangers International.
The match, which was played at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, had ended 1-1 after 90minutes and was to go straight to penalties, but Rangers International rejected the option of playing penalties after regulation time.
Presenting the giant trophy to Coal City United, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Enugu State, Bar. Lloyd Ike Ekweremadu described Coal City United as the true champions. “I will first apologize for not being able to attend all your matches but after watching what you played against Rangers, you guys are deservedly true Champions of the state Federations Cup,” he said.
According to Bar, Lloyd the state government will support the team to give a good representation at the national level, “we as a government will give you all the support you need to excel at the national level when hostilities begin”.
Explaining the decision taken by the state FA to present the trophy to the NNL side, the state FA Chairman Bar, Tony Ugwu said the association acted based on the report of the match officials, hence Coal City FC were crowned champions.
Furthermore, he confirmed that the management of Rangers International is aware of the resolution, Ugwu revealed that, the match officials reported that the game was concluded on the final played on March 30.
According to him, their report confirmed that, Rangers was not willing to go into the penalty shootout.
“That’s exactly what we did, and am sure the management of Rangers are aware of the report from the match officials, so what the FA did was to act on the report of the match commissioner and that’s why we made the presentation today”.
“The rule says their must be a reason before a match is declared inconclusive, but the match commissioner gave us a report that the match was concluded, but one team (Rangers) just refused to continue, and when one team refuses to continue, all we need to do is act on the match officials report,” the FA boss added.
Expressing his excitement over the outcome, Coal City coach, Starplus Anistar said winning the state Federations Cup has always been his and the club’s dream.
Both Coal City FC and Rangers international will represent Enugu State in the knock out stages of this year’s Federations Cup.
