Another ‘abnormal’ season looms as LMC fails to restart NPFL

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 […]

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.

The general feeling was that those in charge of the country’s football would quickly put in place all the necessary measures for the domestic league and other football competitions to reopen without further ado.

There was indeed a ray of optimism when the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced that based on the proposal from the League Management Company, LMC, the Nigerian Professional Football League could resume anytime from November 15.

Shortly after, news broke that the LMC had finally settled for December 6 as the kickoff date for the new season. This was followed by the release of the tentative 380-games fixtures that would have featured seven midweek fixtures in order to end the league season as scheduled by the LMC.

 

Unfortunately, when December 6 was a few days away, the same LMC came out to disassociate itself with the kickoff date as its Spokesman, Harry Iwuala said the league organisers had at no time officially announced any resumption date for the new season.

“Those were the discussions between the LMC and the NPFL clubs, that it got leaked to the media does not make it official.

“Did you read any report from the LMC website or receive a media release that the league was going to kick-off on Sunday, December 6?

“Those reports then are mere speculations. An official statement will be made known through the right channel soon,” he said.

With this denial from the LMC, questions were asked as to the fate of the 2020/2021 NPFL season, which will be the 50th edition in the Nigeria football league system and the 31st since it was rebranded.

Retrospectively, football fans are worried by the ‘new normal’ in Nigerian football. The fear is that the 2020/2021 NPFL season might go the way of the previous seasons which commenced well behind schedule and were eventually ended hastily.

It will be recalled that in September 2018, the LMC declared the 2017/18 season concluded at Match Day 24 after an emergency joint consultative meeting between the 20 NPFL participating clubs and the NFF, with Lobi Stars being declared the winner.

It will be noted that prior to the declaration, the league was postponed indefinitely in July due to the power tussle between Amaju Pinnick and Chris Giwa over the leadership of the NFF.

With the 2017/18 season already decided, the attention was focused on the 2018/19 season which was to resume on December 1, 2018 in an abridged format agreed upon to compensate for the mess caused by the past season which was stopped abruptly.

Unfortunately, the league didn’t resume as planned until January 13, 2019 – a period when other leagues in the world were almost in the second round of their seasons.

Interestingly, the 2018/19 season began with 24 teams instead of the traditional 20 teams. This was because no team was relegated in the previous season which was not completed while four teams were promoted from the Nigeria National League.

The 24 teams were divided into two groups of 12 teams with Enyimba emerging champions after the top three teams in each group contested for the title in the NPFL Super six championship playoff in Lagos. The league didn’t end in the normal way.

Again, attention shifted to the 2019/20 as Nigerians looked forward to a full league season that would see the 20 participating clubs playing all the scheduled matches. Once again, the league was cancelled after 25 matches were played.

It will also be recalled that prior to the commencement of the 2018/2019 season, the LMC had confidently revealed that plans were in place for the 2019/2020 season to begin at the same time with the major leagues in Europe.

However, the 2019/2020 NPFL didn’t start until November 3, several weeks after the top football leagues in Europe had begun.

Before then, the Sports Minister, Sunday Dare had announced October 24 kickoff which didn’t go down well with most of the stakeholders who instantly accused him of attempting to usurp the powers of the LMC.

As fate would have it, the season which started belatedly was eventually cancelled after it was initially suspended on March 18 after Matchday 25. The action was taken as part of measures to control the spread of Covid-19.

However, controversy ensued when the NFF Executive Committee  meeting approved that the 2019/2020 season should end at matchday 25 and the teams should be ranked based on Points Per Game (PPG), mechanism with the top three teams automatically qualifying for the 2020-21 CAF Inter-club competitions (two slots for Champions League and a slot for Confederation Cup) from the league.

It is therefore saddening that after recording a hat-trick of ‘abnormal seasons’, the Nigerian elite league is heading for another uncompleted season which would make it a haul of ‘uncompleted’ league seasons.

Speaking to Trust Sports, a former Green Eagles captain, Henry Nwosu said the late kick-off is affecting the performances of the clubs at the continental levels.

“When we don’t start early to prepare, definitely you won’t have a very solid team at hand. We love the fire brigade approach which is not the best but we are always praying. When you don’t prepare well, there is no way you can perform well,” he said.

In the same vein, a former technical director in the NFF, Tajudeen Disu has said the league can’t start because it is run by the government.

He further urged football administrators to return the league to its glory days when private investors featured prominently.

“It is just unfortunate that the league has continued to suffer. I know that for the past five years, the league has not got a sponsor and the teams have also failed to perform well at the continental level.

“The coaches of the national team will not even look at the players from these clubs because they didn’t perform well.

“We need to get the league back to where we would sit in the comfort of our homes and watch it. With the present condition of things, players take any opportunity to go to Europe or some African countries to get their football career on track.

“Football fans are also suffering due to the non commencement of the league. We all hope and pray the league gets back to where it was before.

“Most of the leagues you mentioned are being managed by independent bodies but ours is heavily funded by the government. Once there is no money, the league cannot start,” he noted.

A former Super Eagles’ Assistant Coach, Joe Erico also said till sports is considered to be business, there will be no growth in the sector.

“We are naïve in this part of the world in understanding the purpose of sports which is a money-spinning venture.

“Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Europe lost a lot of money but here we are not losing anything because people don’t pay to watch matches and the league is being run from the government purse,” he said.