Enugu Rangers player, Israel Abia appears to be showing the number of ‘abnormal NPFL season’
By
Sat Dec 12 2020
It is an open secret that the past three editions of the Nigeria Professional Football League didn’t start and end as planned. The 2017/2018, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 NPFL seasons are therefore commonly referred to as the ‘abnormal seasons’.
Unfortunately, the faint hope which existed that despite the setback brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020/2021 season would be played normally without any form of alteration is fast diming.
Indeed, there was enthusiasm among football fans in Nigerian when the Federal Government through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 on October 5 lifted the ban on contact sports.
NPFL: To be or not to be?
On
Nigerian Professional Football League
By Jacob Ajom
The Nigerian Professional Football League officially began in 1990, following the full consideration and implementation of the report of the Nathaniel Idowu-led Committee. The report includes, among other things, a business-oriented approach to the running of professional football in Nigeria.
This was supposed to reflect in the manner clubs are run, players’ remuneration and the league. Clubs were given a five-year grace to build their own stadiums; clubs were supposed to go public and sell shares in the capital market; the government was supposed to ease its stranglehold on the country’s football mechanism, while club managers and managements were tasked with how to initiate programmes that can generate enough revenue for clubs and break away from being too dependent on government funding.