Both North-Central teams are set to lock horns in the opening fixture of the play-offs at the Eket Township Stadium on June 23, with the Nigeria National League club as the underdog in the knockout tie.
The winner of the match will represent the zone in the main Naija Super Eight tournament set to hold at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos, from July 7 to 16.
Okonkwo said his team deserves to be in the play-offs and the boys will not be intimidated when they take on Lobi Stars. “I think every team in this Super Eight play-offs deserves to be there. For City FC to be there from NNL means we are a big team too. We just missed promotion last season by one point and we were top of the league for a long time before we lost the promotion ticket to El Kanemi Warriors.
“So, what I am looking for in the tournament is for the boys to have fun. It is not a tournament they have to put themselves under pressure, but just to have fun. They should also use the tournament to showcase themselves,” Okonkwo said.
City FC and Lobi Stars qualified as representatives of the North-Central geo-political zone in the Naija Super Eight play-offs by securing 197, 858 and 71, 182 votes respectively from football fans across the country.
Also on the opening matchday, Shooting Stars Sports Club of Ibadan (3SC) will go head-to-head with Remo Stars of Sagamu for the ticket to represent the Southwest geopolitical zone. Other zonal battles in the play-offs are Rivers United vs Bendel Insurance; Kano Pillars vs Katsina United; Enyimba vs Heartland and Yobe Stars vs Gombe United.
All the matches will be live on SuperSports Variety (DStv ch 209) and SuperSports Select 2 (GOtv ch 64).
Naija Super Eight is organised by Flykite Productions, in partnership with MultiChoice Nigeria, and sponsors, MTN, Hero Lager, DStv, GOtv, SuperSport, Moniepoint, Pepsi and Custodian Assurance.
