For the resumption of the 2019/2020 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season, players, coaches and backroom staff (about 1,200 persons in all) will undergo COVID-19 testing before the commencement of matches.
This was confirmed in a communique issued at the end of the video conference of the Executive Committee of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) held yesterday, with the board insisting that the test would be carried out with the support of the Federal Ministry of Health and the NCDC.
The board however, await realities to determine whether matches will be played with crowds or not immediately after the restart while giving priority to privately-funded clubs for special funds if the LMC secures any exceptional support.
In the same vein, the Chairmen of the Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League and Nigeria Nationwide League also projected that all the three leagues are prepared to adjust their programmes to align with the 6-8 weeks window agreed during a meeting of the NFF Board and the Honourable Minister of Sports and Youth Development, Sunday Dare on Thursday, 16th April 2020.
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the board hailed the Federal Government on the various measures put in place to curb the spread of Coronavirus pandemic across the country.
After appraising the realities on ground prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the federation set up an ad-hoc committee headed by NFF President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick, to interface with the Federation’s partners and sponsors in the next weeks with a view to appraising, balancing and optimizing the relationship each way with a model that will take care of the interest of all parties within the realities on the ground.
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