By: Oluwademilade Ogunleye and Mahbubat Salahudeen
The Student Union held a press conference for The Inter-Hall Fresher’s Cup on Saturday, May 3rd 2025 at the Student Representative Council (SRC) chamber of the Student Union Building.
The conference which was initially scheduled to commence at 4pm began forty-five minutes later due to late arrivals of some hall sport representatives.
The conference was spearheaded by the Chairman of the Fresher’s Inter-Hall competition, Francis Diaz, alongside the Vice-chair, Laura Onyetube who provided details about the tournament’s timeline, groupings, fixtures.
The tournament will kick off on the 6th of May through to 15th of May at the Old Sub Pitch comprising two categories — male and female teams.
Each male team will comprise eighteen players and a coach and the female team will include ten players and a coach.
The male category will follow a two group format with three teams in each group and the top two teams advancing to the semi-final, while the female category will be in a league format with the top two teams advancing to the final.
Unlike previous editions, female matches will be played at the SUB Pitch — which will be demarcated — due to ongoing infrastructure constructions on the Cricket pitch.
Mr. Francis also stressed that cases of casualties will be a responsibility of halls of residence and stressed on the availability of health ministers on each match day.
Every male team will play for a duration of 25 minutes in each half of the group stages and 30 minutes at the knockout stages. However, the female team will play 15 minutes per half across every stage.
Every hall is required to field freshmen across each stage of the tournament and Direct Entry (DE) students are not allowed to participate.
Also, in a situation where a player is given a red card, such player is automatically suspended from the next match, but this rule only applies to the matches in the group stages.
In case of ties between the teams, qualification for the knockout stages is determined through Points accumulated, goal difference, goals scored, and head-to-head results.
Below are the groupings and fixtures for the football competition.
Group A
Sultan Bello Hall
Kenneth Mellanby Hall
Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall
Group B
Tedder Hall
Ransome Kuti Hall
Independence Hall
Fixtures – Male Category
Kenneth Mellanby Hall vs Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall
Independence Hall vs Ransome-Kuti Hall
Sultan Bello Hall vs Kenneth Mellanby Hall
Lord Tedder Hall vs Ransome-Kuti Hall
Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall vs Sultan Bello Hall
Lord Tedder Hall vs Independence Hall
Fixtures – Female Category
Queen Elizabeth II Hall vs Obafemi Awolowo Hall
Queen Idia Hall vs Obafemi Awolowo Hall
Queen Elizabeth II Hall vs Queen Idia Hall
The tournament will kick off with a match between Kenneth Mellanby Hall and Nnamdi Azikiwe Hall at 4pm on Tuesday.
