Imo State’s government has made its position clear ahead of July 11: Heartland Queens have the full weight of the state behind them as they prepare to become the first women’s club from Nigeria’s southeast to win a major national cup competition.
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Heartland Queens have received a formal pledge of total state support from Imo State Commissioner for Sports, Honourable Obinna Onyeocha, as the Owerri club prepares for the Women’s President Federation Cup final against Nasarawa Amazons on July 11 at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, FootballInNigeria.com.ng reports. Onyeocha hosted the club’s players, coaching staff and management at an official state reception to mark their 2-1 semi final victory over FC Robo Queens, a win he described as a historic achievement for Imo State and the entire southeast geopolitical zone.
The reception was attended by the squad alongside technical adviser Obi Ogbala and members of the club’s management team, who used the occasion to deliver their own assurances about the club’s readiness and determination to win the trophy in Delta State. Onyeocha told the gathering that the Heartland Queens had created history simply by reaching this final, made a specific call for Imo State indigenes and their neighbours across the southeast to travel to Asaba and fill the Stephen Keshi Stadium behind the club on July 11, and made a personal commitment to do everything within his power to ensure Imo State lifts the cup for the first time. Women’s football fans planning to attend the Asaba final can check the Bet9ja promo code on FootballInNigeria.com.ng for the latest welcome offer ahead of the showpiece event.
Why This Final Is a Landmark for South-East Football
Onyeocha’s specific framing of the achievement as a first for any women’s club from the south-east in a major Nigerian competition is the context that gives this final its wider significance. The southeast zone, encompassing Anambra, Abia, Imo, Enugu and Ebonyi states, has produced many of Nigeria’s most celebrated footballers across both the men’s and women’s games. Yet at the level of state backed women’s clubs competing in national cup football, a southeast side reaching and now potentially winning a President Federation Cup final has not happened before in the competition’s 30-year history.
Heartland Queens are nicknamed the Uzodimma Babes, a reference to Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, and that connection to the state’s political leadership gives the final an added dimension of local pride. The commissioner’s explicit call for fans to travel from the southeast to Asaba suggests the state government views July 11 as a moment to project Imo’s football identity nationally, not just as a cup final but as a statement about the region’s place in Nigerian women’s football. New Bet9ja users wanting to back Heartland Queens in the final can use the Bet9ja YOHAIG welcome code before the match kicks off in Asaba.
Technical Adviser Ogbala Confirms Squad’s Readiness
Technical adviser Obi Ogbala used the reception as the platform to deliver a message from inside the camp, confirming the squad are fully prepared and motivated for the final. His presence at the state reception alongside the players and management signals a coaching staff that is comfortable with the public dimension of a final week buildup rather than retreating entirely behind closed doors. That comfort comes from confidence, and Ogbala’s message to the commissioner and to Imo State was straightforward this team came here to win the cup, not just to be in the final.
The coaching team will now begin the final phase of preparation for a match against an opponent who knows the final stage intimately. Nasarawa Amazons were runners up in the 2025 edition of this same competition, losing in the final twelve months ago. They bring the experience of having survived a far more dramatic semi-final, including a disputed goal, a 90th-minute equaliser and a stoppage-time winner from defender Jumoke Alani to beat Sunshine Queens 2-1. Heartland Queens beat FC Robo Queens with a degree more comfort, winning 2-1 in a contest that, while competitive, did not require the same level of late-game resilience. The final will test both sides differently. Bet9ja’s promo code for today is available for fans who want to back either finalist ahead of the July 11 decider.
A Final That Will Create History Regardless of Result
Whatever happens at the Stephen Keshi Stadium on July 11, the 2026 Women’s President Federation Cup will have a new name on the trophy. Heartland Queens have never won it. Nasarawa Amazons have never won it. The competition is 30 editions old, and for the first time in its history, neither finalist has previously claimed the title. For Imo State and the south east, a Heartland Queens victory would produce the moment Onyeocha articulated at the state reception proof that the zone can compete and win at the top level of Nigerian women’s domestic football. For Nasarawa and the north central zone, a win would complete what last year’s final denied them. The stakes on both sides are real, the preparation on both sides is serious, and Asaba on July 11 will be the stage where the argument is settled.
📌 Did You Know?
- Heartland Queens are nicknamed the Uzodimma Babes in honour of Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, following a tradition in Nigerian state football where women’s clubs take on nicknames that reflect their association with the sitting governor or state government patron who provides their primary funding and support.
- The Women’s President Federation Cup has been running since 1991, making the 2026 edition the 30th in the competition’s history. In three decades of the competition, no club from the south-east geopolitical zone has ever won the trophy, a record that Heartland Queens now have the opportunity to end on July 11 in Asaba.
- Obi Ogbala, Heartland Queens’ technical adviser who attended the Imo State reception, has experience across multiple levels of Nigerian women’s football and has been credited with building the tactical discipline that carried Heartland Queens through to their first Federation Cup final without conceding in the semi-final phase.
- FC Robo Queens, the side Heartland Queens defeated 2-1 in the semi final to reach the Asaba final, had eliminated the reigning Women’s President Federation Cup champions Rivers Angels in the quarter finals. Heartland’s victory over Robo therefore effectively made them the team who defeated the side that had defeated the holders.
- The Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba, where the July 11 final will be held, was built in 2012 and has a capacity of approximately 25,000. It is named after Stephen Keshi, the former Super Eagles captain and head coach who remains the only person to win the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach in Nigerian football history.
- Nasarawa Amazons, Heartland Queens’ opponents in the final, were runners-up in the 2025 Women’s President Federation Cup. A win on July 11 would make them champions at the second attempt, a redemption story that mirrors several of the most celebrated cup final victories in Nigerian domestic football history.
- The July 11 Women’s President Federation Cup final in Asaba will take place on the same day and at the same venue as the men’s President Federation Cup final between Ikorodu City and El-Kanemi Warriors, creating a rare double header of national cup finals that Nigerian football administrators have described as a landmark moment for the domestic game’s profile and media coverage.
