• May 24, 2022, midnight
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The draws have been made for the knockout stages of the 2021 Nigeria Higher Institution Football League (HiFL) on Friday 4th June 2021. The third edition of the prestigious university football tournament, has reached the business end where every game matter, teams now know who they will face in the knock out stage with an eye on representing Nigeria at the African football championship later this year. Following an initial zonal qualifying round that saw teams from all NUGA zones take part, 16 teams emerged to the Elimination stage. This round will be played in a home and away format with winning teams moving on to the next round until the final four teams who will play in the Super four tournament in Lagos. The mouthwatering fixtures will see defending champions University of Calabar football team (Unical Malabites) travel to Benin to take on best qualifying team University of Benin (UniBen Royals). Last year s finalists University of Agriculture Markurdi (UAM Tillers) will take on ambitious Amadu Bello University (ABU Nobles), Bayero University Kano (BUK Stallions) fight for a ticket against University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID Desert Warriors), while University of Lagos (UNILAG Marines) will hope to put behind them their abysmal performances in the previous editions of the tournament when they take on Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA Tigers). The event which was held at the Radisson Blue hotel in Lagos had in attendance, Marketing Manager, Nivea Men, Faizal Kayode; Director, PACE Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Sola Fijabi; Brand Manager, Minimie, Monica Jaiswal; Chairman, Higher Institution Football League, Dr. Kachi Onubogu and President, Nigerian University Games Association, Prof. Stephen Hamafyelto, Media & Marketing Officer NUGA, Chidiebere Ezeani; and Sports Editor, Vanguard, Tony Ubani, stakeholders and other members of the press. Dates for the matches will be announced soon