ANDREW EKEJIUBA
The Football Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) on July 10 passed several resolutions during an online meeting on the new dates for the kick-off of the various leagues in the country.
The online meeting had in attendance the chairpersons of all the National Leagues and the president of the Nigeria Referees Association.
According to Ademola Olajire of NFF’s Communications Department, the Executive Committee of the NFF, after a holistic consideration of all the issues affecting the leagues (including the status of the leagues before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic), the impact of the pandemic-induced disruptions, the health, safety and movement restrictive measures in the country, the potential protocols for football resumption, the costs, the financial status of the leagues and clubs, CAF calendar and resolutions of the various leagues as conveyed to the NFF, approved the following:
“For the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) – The league ends at current Matchday 25 and the Points Per Game (PPG) table will be used to rank the teams in order to ensure sporting merit and sporting fairness.
“That the names of the Top 3 (three) clubs on the NPFL final PPG table as at Matchday 25 shall be submitted to CAF to represent Nigeria in the 2020/2021 CAF Inter – Club competitions (2 slots for CAF Champions League and 1 Slot for CAF Confederation Cup).
“There will be no promotion to, or relegation from, NPFL for the 2019/2020 season and the NPFL 2020/2021 season will start from September/October 2020 and end May 2021 subject to the full reopening of the country and the approval of the health authorities.
“In the case of the Nigeria National League (NNL), the NNL 2019/2020 season which is at Match day 3 – 5 and has been on break since December 17, 2019, is cancelled; null and void. Also, there will be no promotion to, or relegation, from NNL.
“The NNL 2020/2021 season will start from September/October 2020 and end May 2021 subject to the full reopening of the country and the approval of the health authorities.
“Also, the NFF will work with the NNL, the participating clubs and other stakeholders to ensure a successful fresh start from September/October 2020. This will include a review of the NNL structure to optimise its development.
“However, in case of the Nigerian Football League (NWFL) – The yet-to-commence NWFL 2019/2020 season is aborted.
“The NWFL 2020/2021 to start from September/October 2020 and end May 2021 subject to the full reopening of the country and the approval of the health authorities.
“For National League One (NLO) – The yet to commence NLO 2019/2020 Season is aborted and there will be no promotion to or relegation from NLO.
“The NLO 2020/2021 season will start from September/October 2020 to end May 2021 subject to the full reopening of the country and the approval of the health authorities.
“Finally, for the AITEO Cup 2019/2020, which had only commenced at the State level, is aborted.
“The 2019 AITEO Cup Winners to be presented to CAF for the 2020/2021 CAF Inter-Club competition (Nigeria’s 2nd slot in the CAF Confederation Cup), reserved for Federation Cup winners.
“The AITEO CUP 2020/2021 season will commence from September/October 2020 to end May 2021, subject to the full reopening of the country and the approval of the health authorities.”
The Football Committee also resolved that kick-off dates for the 2020/2021season are subject to the directives of the Federal Government in line with COVID-19 protocols and added that the full enforcement of licensing regulations and financial controls for the NPFL will commence from the 2020/2021 season as clubs are required to comply or be barred from participating, if they fail to abide by the resolutions.
Meanwhile, the NFF will formally take the resolutions to the next General Meeting of its Congress for ratification as the aforementioned resolutions have formally been communicated to the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.