Side Kick

Time for NFF, LMC to resume our domestic league 

 

For about four months, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and the Nigeria National League (NNL) have been put on hold without any date in sight for the commencement of the new season.
The two leagues which were earlier halted during the 2018 World Cup and while the crisis that engulfed the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) lasted.
With Amaju Pinnick and other members of his board were in Russia, Amb. Chris Giwa installed himself as the NFF President, citing court ruling. The development led to the postponement of league matches and it was only after the world football governing body; FIFA threatened to wield the stick that sanity prevailed.
Even after the impasse was resolved, the NPFL and NNL only ran for a few weeks before the abrupt completion of the former. Despite having about 14 match days left, Lobi Stars was declared champions of the NPFL.
Following the questionable emergence of the champions one would have expected that the last four teams on the log be relegated but surprising no team was condemned to play in the lower division according to a ruling by the NFF and League Management Company (LMC).
As if that was not enough, the NFF promised to promote eight NNL teams to the elite division, leaving football aficionados in a state of confusion.
Perhaps, upon realising the magnitude of the error earlier committed, the NFF tried to right the wrong by promising that only top teams from the NNL Super 8 will be promoted ahead of next season.
The affected NNL teams however rose against the latest utterances of the NFF leadership by their failure to show up for the Super 8 tournament.
Unless the stakeholders agree to sheath their swords, our domestic league players will remain inactive for another few months. Some of the clubs have traversed the county preparing for the new season with no date in sight. In fact some clubs have had to call off their plans for the coming season including the recruitment of players due to the current crisis.
The LMC in particular should not rest on their oars, they should rather continue from where they left off. Ever Shehu Dikko and his team took over; our domestic leagues have no doubt improved tremendously in terms of organisation, sponsorship, quality of football on the pitch and players’ welfare among others.
The LMC succeeded in eradicating the major challenge facing the league which is the must-win at home syndrome. This they achieved by taking over the remuneration of match officials from home teams.
With our league running consistently like what is obtained in Europe, our players will need not sign slave contracts in less fancied leagues abroad. Also, some of those players will have the opportunity of challenging their foreign-based counterparts for position in the senior national team. Additionally, we really need an effective and highly competitive league for our clubs to excel in CAF Champions League and Confederations Club and our home-based national team to win the CHAN tournament.

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