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Tag: George Aluo

  • Aluo predicts  better  future  for NNL ahead of new season

    Aluo predicts  better  future  for NNL ahead of new season

    Nigeria National League (NNL) Chairman, George Aluo, has affirmed his board determination  to consolidate on the gains of last season to  ensure improvement in the forthcoming 2024-25 season.

    Speaking with NationSport, Aluo  said it was a general consensus that the 2023-24 season was the best season in the annals of the domestic second-tier  league , adding the NNL board has put several things in place to ensure  that this coming could be refreshingly better.

    Further explained  that He  NNL board  was  working round the clock to ensure the season produces a worthy winner  as well as formidable representatives of the league  after gaining promotion to the elite  Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).

    ” Last season was n wonderful and everyone acknowledged it as the best in the history of Nigeria National League,”  the  seasoned journalist turned administrator told NationSport.“We completely changed the face of the league and it is why a club like Beyond Limits which is a team of young players, was able to win the Super 8 Play-Off in Enugu.

    “We created a level playing field for everybody and we had teams winning games away from home and we were happy with the way the league ended last season.

    “ We can only take it one step higher because we have rebranded the league and have brought in so many innovations ahead of the new season.”

    Aluo further stressed that the NNL will organise classroom sessions for the coaches and media officers in the division  between  November 28th and  30th  in order to create better  synergy between the NNL and the coaches and the media.

    “We inculcated a winning mentality into the coaches of all teams that came for our preseason seminar that took place in Ogun State last season,” he further said. “This year, we have decided to equally take the coaches back to the classroom and take the media officers of the teams to the classrooms also so that they too can clearly understand their roles and what they can do to help us continue to rebrand the league.

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    “So, from the November 28th  to 30th  we will take the coaches and the media officers back to the classrooms so that we will build a synergy between the NNL and the media. “

    Aluo has  also assured  that officiating  match officials would be taken care of and that their match indemnities may be jerk up  though subject to the approval of the NNL board and all other things being equal.

    He noted: “Our  officiating officials would be taken care of. We succeeded last season in paying all the match officials from the start of the season to its end and we intend to do that in the 2024-25 season as well.

    “ We equally understand that things have gone up in terms of transportation and otherwise. We will do all within our powers to make the match officials as comfortable as possible.

    “The NNL board will also ensure that Nigerians are able to watch the game’s if not through conventional television but would be streamed live by clubs on different platforms.

    “We want to play a league where teams can go to any ground to win and we want a season that will be violent free.

    “We also want to play a league where the eventual champions would be worthy winner just like we did last  season,” he affirmed.

  • Aluo begs Corporate Nigeria to sponsor NNL

    Aluo begs Corporate Nigeria to sponsor NNL

    The Chairman of the Nigerian National League George Aluo has appealed to Corporate bodies and individuals to embrace the country’s second tier league because of its unique nature in the country’s football development.

    Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Aluo said the League remains the most important League in the country, because it is the only league that take teams from both the Nigeria Premier League and Nigeria Nationwide League. “this is how important the league is, and deserves all the special attentions from corporate sponsors”.

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    He took time to outline some of the achievements recorded in the first stanza of league, saying that they will intensify efforts to make the league comparable to what is attain in other leagues worldwide.

    He said: “we have zero percent tolerance for hooliganism and the ones we have noticed, were dealt with immediately. Referees indemnities were taken care of promptly, the teams are doing well because they have very conducive environment to play the matches.”

    He said in the second stanza of the league which will start in the first week of March, they will continue to monitor the league, and ensure that only best will emerge to join the NPFL at the end of season. “our teams are doing well, and that is why we are appealing to various sponsors to embrace the league for the future of our football development. Because, it is only when the League is growing that the national teams will perform well” he concluded.

    The Chief Operating officer of the league body Ayo Abdulrahaman further gave a statistical analysis of the first stanza of the 2023/2024 League Season, saying that out of the193 matches that were played in the first stanza, 383 goals were scored with an unprecedented 27 away wins and 45 away draws.