Flykite Productions, organisers of Naija Super 8, have disclosed how the 12 clubs billed to contest the football tournament’s play-offs emerged. The process of qualification, based on fan voting and verified by top-tier audit firm, Deloitte, started on 10 April and closed on 12 May, with fans casting their votes on the DStv website and DStv App.
The two teams with the highest number of votes qualified for the play-offs, which will be held in Eket from 23-25 June and were announced at an unveiling ceremony in Lagos on Friday.
According to vote tallies obtained by the organisers from Deloitte, the exercise yielded a total of 1,926, 495 valid votes, with the DStv App accounting for 1, 443, 215, while DStv website yielded 24,922. Votes from mobile devices amounted to 458,358. Voting was open to football fans in Nigeria, Republic of Benin, Ghana and South Africa.
Nigeria delivered the highest number of votes, posting 1,924, 272 (99.88 per cent). Next was South Africa, which delivered 1,323 (0.07 per cent). Republic of Benin accounted for 0.03 per cent of total number of valid votes with 600, while Ghana posted the lowest number with 300 votes or 0.02 per cent.
The breakdown of the verified votes shows that in the North West geopolitical zone, Kano Pillars and Katsina United football clubs polled 34, 264 and 19, 242 votes respectively to qualify. Next to them were Kaduna United (12, 745), Kebbi United (10, 482), Jigawa Golden Stars (5,062), Zamfara United (2,222) and Sokoto (2,019). The total number of votes recorded was 86, 036.
The North-East yielded 48,699 votes, with Yobe Stars and Gombe United posting 14,429 and 13,585 votes respectively to qualify. They are followed by Adamawa United (10, 232), El-Kanemi Warriors (4,758), Wikki Tourists (3,881) and Taraba United (1, 814). From the North Central zone, where City Football Club of Abuja and Lobi Stars of Makurdi qualified with 197, 858 and 71, 182 votes respectively. They were followed by Plateau United (48, 918), Kwara United (39, 508), Niger Tornadoes (28, 756), Nasarawa United (27, 065) and Kogi United (17748). The total number of votes cast was 431,035.
Fans in the South-South geo-political zone delivered a total of 558, 341 votes, with Rivers United scooping 198, 320 to come out tops and followed by Bendel Insurance with 149,627 to qualify. Akwa United polled 88, 774, Warri Wolves, 62, 391 and Bayelsa United 29, 381 to come third, fourth and fifth respectively. Rovers of Calabar and Vandrezzer FC of Eket polled 20, 712 and 9,136.
The South West zone, where 3SC of Ibadan and Remo Stars of Shagamu qualified with 154, 154 and 100,999 votes respectively, delivered a total of 497, 478. Sunshine Stars (65, 345), Ikorodu City (56, 051), Sporting Lagos (42, 041), Crown Football Club of Ogbomosho (33, 183), Ekiti United (23, 264) and Smart City FC of Lagos (22, 341) accounted for the remaining votes.
The South East, from where Enyimba Football Club of Aba and Owerri’s Heartland FC polled 94, 034 and 63, 327 to qualify, yielded an aggregate of 304, 906 votes. The remainder of the votes went to Rangers International of Enugu (56, 154), Edel FC of Nnewi (42, 865), Abia Warriors of Umuahia (24, 937) and Cynosure FC of Abakaliki (23, 589).
Winners of the six elimination zonal play-off games will qualify for the Naija Super 8 finals to be held in Lagos from 7-16 July, where they will be joined by two wildcard entrants to be determined by the organisers.