THE Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has fixed June 11 as the date for the commencement of the 2013 edition of the Federations Cup round of 64 matches.

The federation, which conducted the draws for the round of 64 matches last week in Abuja, said then that it would arrive at the commencement date after meeting with organisers of the various leagues in the country to avoid a clash of date with league matches.

After a meeting of the NFF’s Director of Competitions, Sanusi Mohammed, with the secretaries of all the four leagues (NPFL, NNL, NNWL and NWL), yesterday in Abuja, the federation agreed with the leagues organisers to stagger the date of the Federation Cup matches beginning from June 11 to ensure that the competition is rounded off before the end of the 2013 football season.

Releasing the fixtures and venues to the media yesterday, Sanusi explained that the dates were carefully arrived at to ensure that there was no clash with league matches involving the clubs, adding that the centers were also carefully picked to ensure that all the clubs were given equal treatment.

From the fixtures released to the various states’ football associations, 10 matches will be played on June 11 at the Lokoja, Abuja, Jos, Kaduna, Katsina Ala, Akure, Katsina, Lafia, and Ado Ekiti centers.