Akwa United Football Club is a Nigerian football club based in Uyo, Akwa Ibom. They play in the Nigeria National League, the second division of Nigerian football. The Godswill Akpabio International Stadium is the club's home Stadium. In the 2020/21 season they were crowned champions of the league for the first time in their history.

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Starting out as "Ibom Stars Football Club", the club began its professional campaign in the 1996/97 season of the second-tier NNL (then called the "Pro League"). Assam Assam was the pioneer chairman of the club with coach Bernard Ogbe serving as its first technical adviser. The club played its home matches at the Uyo Township Stadium, wearing red & white as its respective home and away kits. It was a dominant force in the state, winning the state Challenge Cup seven times between 1996 and 2006.

After playing in the second division for almost ten years, Ibom Stars gained promotion to the Nigeria Premier League (now called the Nigeria Professional Football League) in the 2007/08 season, thrashing neighbours Calabar Rovers 13–0 at Oron Township Stadium on the last day of the season to edge Bussdor FC and qualify.

The management of the club then applied for a change of name, changing from "Ibom Stars FC" to "Akwa United FC" with the nickname The Promise Keepers. They would also adopt blue for their home matches and white for their away matches.

The team attracted many big names from other clubs around the country. The then-chairman Chris Ekong signed coach Charles Bassey (MON) to take charge of the team, assisted by Emmanuel King. What followed was arrival of some household names, including Innocent Ozurumba, Ottanwa Ottanwa, Abdul Haruna, Stanley Amadi, and even former national U17 players Ambrose Vanzekin, Kingsley Udo and King Osanga. The newly recruited players teamed up with some indigenous stars to build what was one of the best squads in the country that year.

Akwa United played her first Premier League match against El-kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri at the Oron Township Stadium, winning 1–0. Midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo was the scorer. Their 0–1 victory over Nasarawa United in Lafia would be the team's first away win in the Premier league. Akwa United's first season in the Premier League was not, however, without friction. In a league match against Enyimba International, the club was hit with a heavy fine and banished from Uyo Township Stadium for three years after home fans furiously invaded the pitch in response to referee Felicia Okugbe awarding a controversial injury time penalty, with one person believed dead and many others sustaining various injuries. The aftermath of this would have a psychological effect on the team's performance, as they struggled through the rest of the season. In what was a turbulent first season for the club, they finished 14th with 48 points after recording 14 victories, 6 draws and 18 defeats.

The Promise Keepers second season in the Premier League was not as smooth as the first.