Clubs that fail to honour fixtures in the national preliminaries of the 2026 President Federation Cup will be fined N1 million, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced.

The directive was disclosed on Monday by the NFF Director of Competitions, Ruth David, who also outlined the schedule for the preliminary stages of Nigeria's oldest football competition.

According to the statement, the state preliminary rounds of the tournament will take place between March 22 and April 26, 2026, with matches beginning on Sunday, March 22.

David explained that any club that completes registration for the competition at the state level but fails to show up for a scheduled match will be sanctioned with a N500,000 fine.

She noted that the measure is aimed at ensuring discipline and proper organisation throughout the competition, which serves as the qualification stage for teams seeking to participate in the national rounds of the tournament.

The NFF also directed that final matches in the state competitions must be played either on Saturday, April 25 or Sunday, April 26.

At the conclusion of the state finals, each state Football Association, including that of the Federal Capital Territory, is expected to submit two representatives who will progress to the national stage of the competition.