Tag: NPFL

• Gombe, Tornadoes face fines for breaches

Few days after the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) issued a practice directive to clubs on dress codes for the Technical Crew and Players, Katsina United was found to have flouted the code during their Matchday 11 fixture in Lagos against Sporting Lagos. 

A Katsina United player wore a jersey that was inappropriately numbered and the NPFL has not only sanctioned the club but is also reporting the Match Officials to the NFF for dereliction of duty in allowing the player come into the game on Sunday.

Commenting on the breaches and the sanctions, Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer of the NPFL noted that the regulatory role of the body is to identify, investigate acts that may undermine the integrity of the NPFL and impose appropriate sanctions based on the provisions of the Framework and Rules.

“Our rules have sufficiently made provisions to keep away conducts that are inimical to the overall best interest of the clubs, their players and fans,” remarked Owumi. “While we cannot stop any club or individual from certain behaviours , we definitely would not condone such misconduct and would always apply sanctions to serve as deterrence.”

He is particularly peeved at the case of Katsina United which he noted has occurred in just over a week when the NPFL issued a practice directive on dress codes for Managers and players and which was shared with Match Commissioners and Referees.

Katsina United, Gombe United and Niger Tornadoes are three clubs that came under sanctions in the most recent tranche of regulatory enforcement announced by the NPFL on Monday after investigations into reported breaches of the NPFL Framework and Rules.

Katsina United was found in breach of Rule B9.7 for inappropriate display of the surname of Player, Ibrahim Yahay with jersey No. 27.

The club, in a second charge was found to have breached Rule C9 in failing to ensure the proper conduct of its officials which resulted in the Kit Manager of the club attempting to harass the Assistant Referee 1.

For the cited breaches, Katsina United has been ordered to pay ₦1million for the inappropriate display of the player’s name and number while the Kits Manager, Masudu Lawal received a one year ban from all NPFL activities for improper conduct 

In the aftermath of fans unruly conduct in another Matchday 11 fixture, Gombe United were fined a total of ₦7million and a one match stadium ban to fans for breaches ranging from disruption of match by fans throwing objects on to the field of play, to disruption of live broadcast of the match and failure to provide adequate and effective security.

Read Also: Alimi, Mizo lead race for NPFL Golden Boot

In a case arising from Matchday 10 between Niger Tornadoes and Akwa United, the former was charged with breach of Rule B8.21, C9 and C1.1 for which it was fined a total of ₦3.250million including compensatory payment to the Centre Referee.

The sanctions include a fine of ₦1million for failure to provide adequate and effective security for Match Officials. Another fine of ₦1million for failure to ensure the proper conduct of its officials (Stewards/Security Personnel). There was a third fine of ₦1million for misconduct and a ₦250,000 compensatory payment to Referee(Ahmad Rabiu from Kano State Referees Council) for losses resulting from the harassment. The Ahmadu Bello Stadium home ground of Niger Tornadoes has been ordered closed to fans for the next three home fixtures of the club.

All three clubs are free to submit to the decisions or elect to appear before a disciplinary commission for a review. This they must communicate in writing to the NPFL Legal and Compliance Unit within 48 hours.

• Clubs net 215 goals from 108 matches

After total of 108 of 110 fixtures concluded in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) 2023/24

season, Remo Stars Sikiru Alimi and Robert Christian Mizode of Bayelsa United are joint top scorers with nine goals

Mizo as he is popularly called by Bayelsa United fans narrowly missed out on the golden boot last season to Enyimba’s Emeka Mbaoma.

In other stats released by the NPFL Competitions Department, 79 wins have been recorded with 73 registered by home sides while six wins were on the road and 29 draws.

Read Also: NPFL: Five star Abdullahi shine in vital win for Pillars  (BOX IT DOWN)

The season has so far recorded a total of 215 goals, an average of over 2 goals per match. Of the lot, 151 goals were scored by the home teams and 64 by the traveling teams.

Referees have awarded a total of 16 penalties and while 12 were scored, the rest four were missed. There has been seven own goals out of the 215 scored.

In the course of the 108 fixtures, a total of 407 cautions have been issued by Referees with 11 players expelled from games.

After MatchDay 11 games during which Rivers United missed two due to international club competition fixtures, Remo Stars lead on the log with 22 points, 17 goals for and nine against to have a plus eight goals surplus. The Ikenne side have equally proven to be the most prolific, banging in 17 goals.

With just five goals conceded so far, Doma United and Bendel Insurance parade the best defensive walls. On the other hand, Bayelsa United has the worst defence, shipping in 20 goals.

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau is expected to declare the first ever retreat of the Management and Staff of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) holding today  at the Sandralia Hotel in Abuja.

The retreat which is being held to review the operations of the NPFL in the last one year and develop strategies for improvement, is the first ever such development study event to be held in the history of professional football administration in the country.

Secretary of the NPFL Board, Danladi Ibrahim in a circular listed the agenda to have the NFF President declare the retreat open after a keynote address by the NPFL Chairman, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye.

The NPFL Head of Operations, Prince Davidson Owumi would be presenting the first paper covering a review of past performance by offering an assessment of the previous season’s performance, analysing achievements and areas for improvements.

Read Also: NPFL: Lobi Stars outshine Shooting Stars to go atop

The retreat will amongst other set objectives develop a strategic plan that will define the NPFL long-term goals and objectives and discuss ways and means for achieving them.

It will also develop the NPFL standard operational structures and organogram to be presented by the Board Secretary.

Other subjects of interest would cover the NPFL finances dwelling on budgeting and resource allocation, Marketing and Promotion, exploring  ways to enhance the league commercial value and promotional strategies.

 “No business can survive the tough market without developing commercial and work strategies to attract investors which in our industry are Sponsors and Partners”, Elegbeleye said. “It is important that the Board, Management and Staff hold such a session to synergize the vision of the Board and the operations of the staff. 

“We may not achieve a sync if the Board do not share its vision with the staff who are the ones to interpret and implement strategies to translate the vision to tangibles.”

Clubs in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) have been advised to curb a number of conduct of their Coaches, Players and Ball Boys during fixtures of the season.

In a memo to the Clubs, titled Regulating Matchday Conduct of Coaches, Players and Ball Boys”, Davidson Owumi, the Chief Operating Officer reminded the clubs that relevant provisions of the NPFL Framework and Rules will be invoked to ensure that no individual or group demeaned the public perception of the league.

The memo, he noted , was intended to avert the minds of leadership of all clubs to some inappropriate conducts that are tainting the league and bringing the game to disrepute.

It began by drawing attention to dress code of Coaches, some of who the league categorised as “appearing for matches in inappropriate apparels that portray the entire league in bad light.”

Warning that henceforth such Coaches would be charged based on relevant provisions of the rules, the NPFL appealed, “to the leadership  of our Clubs to take interest in the dress codes of their Coaches who sit on the bench especially now that our games are on television”

“Football broadcast requires intentional packaging from arrival of teams to the dressing rooms, to the field, bench and actual play. Let us join hands with our Broadcast Partners to make the league attractive to viewers at home and fans in the stadium,” the memo stated.

Read Also: Elegbeleye rules out  exclusivity for NPFL Broadcast Rights

It raised a second issue of simulation of injury by players to hold up matches in a bid to run down the clock and thereby denying fee paying fans full value for money and time.

“Football has been accepted as big business with entertainment value and this frequent disruptions rob the league games of entertainment spectacle. It does not encourage fans who have paid money and spent time to watch games”, Owumi observed and urged clubs to encourage their Coaches to adopt fair means of getting results.

The memo also frowned at the resort to hiding match balls by Ball Boys of home teams to confer undue advantage through time wasting when the ball is out of play.

“We have already mandated Match Commissioners and Independent Secret Assessors to eradicate the disappearance act of Ball Boys with balls to the advantage of home teams in the course of a match”.

It said Match Commissioners have been issued a new practice direction of ensuring that the number of Ball Boys and Balls remains the same as it was at the start of the match.

“Match Commissioners are henceforth at liberty to ask the Referee to add every minute wasted by this disreputable conduct”, Owumi disclosed, adding that, “the NPFL would not hesitate to impose appropriate sanctions on offending clubs.”

Companies seeking to acquire Broadcast rights of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) have been invited to approach the league body with offers for negotiation.

Chairman of the NPFL, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye clarified that the adopted marketing approach of the board is for non-exclusivity which have not foreclosed the signing up of more rights holders.

Elegbeleye described as shocking, claims by an individual alleging that there was an offer for $11m dollars to the NPFL for the rights before the StarTimes deal was executed.

“For the avoidance of doubt and for public records, the NPFL and StarTimes deal took months to conclude and all through the duration of our negotiations, nobody approached us with any offer,” explained the NPFL Chairman.

He further narrated efforts of the defunct Interim Management Committee (IMC) to attract a Broadcast partner including getting the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to broker a meeting with Supersport which at the end didn’t express interest to take up the offer.

“The NPFL has an office in Abuja and the facilitator of the said $11m offer knows this place and has contacts of the NFF President. We are still very much open to negotiate as our deal with StarTimes provides for a third party investor.

“Let the person please come to our office or to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) because we are still open for more partnerships in the Broadcast space”.

The NPFL boss explained that the unbundling of the broadcast bouquet has made it possible to accommodate multiple partners

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“It is obvious that we have unbundled the broadcast products and segmented the number of matches any rights owner can show every matchday. So there is still a window to accommodate genuine interests in our league broadcast partnership”, declared Elegbeleye, who also is the NFF Second Vice President.

Faulting claims that the League fail foul of the Public Procurement Act which governs sales of government assets in the country, the former member of the Federal House of Representatives, said: “the NPFL is incorporated as a private company limited by guarantee at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and is not captured in government funding.

“We do not receive funding from Government but run our programme from money generated through sponsorships and we operate a transparent system that accounts for sponsors/investors funds to maintain the integrity of the league.

“In any case, we have made sufficient noise right from the inception of the IMC and we were able to have the very successful Super 6 on television, so there’s no person in the industry who is not aware that the League hasn’t been on television for the past six years. Where were they?” he retorted.

So far, the NPFL has secured two Broadcast Partners in Propel Sports Africa (PSA) for the Over The Top (OTT) platform and StarTimes for the Direct To Home (DTH) cable platform.

The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), has  for the umpteenth  time, asked the general public and its existing and potential partners to disregard a certain Total Promotions laying claims to its  Broadcast In a statement titled, “Re-Clarifications Regarding Claims made by Total Promotions”, the Nigeria Premier League Limited/GTI  described the claims as total unfounded with no legal validity.

“We wish to reiterate that these claims made by ‘Total Promotions Limited’ are entirely unfounded, factually incorrect and devoid of any legal validity,” Secretary to the NPL Board, Danladi Ibrahim wrote.

The Lawyer offered judicial backing of the expressed position of the NPFL with a reference to a 2010 judgement by a Federal High Court Judge who ordered liquidation of the Nigeria Football League Limited, the body that granted Broadcast rights to Total Promotions in 2006.

“Note that in Suit No. FHC/ ABJ/ CS/179/2010 (Sam Jaja vs Nigeria Football League Ltd and four others), Justice Okorowo of the Federal High Court gave a judgement ordering the mandatory winding up of NFL Limited, the entity that granted the Broadcast rights to Total Promotions.”

He posited that the 2010 judgement invalidated all rights assigned to Total Promotions.

 “By the judgement, all rights assigned to Total Promotions by the Nigeria Football League Ltd became extinguished as the later was consequently stripped of the licensed to organise a league,” the statement continued.

Relying on positions of the law on contracts, the NPFL canvassed that “the concept of ‘frustration of contract’ and ‘force majeure’ are recognised under Nigeria’s Contract Laws.

“The execution of the contract between Total Promotions and NFL Limited became impossible after the later became insolvent and was wound up by the Court.”

The NPFL also wondered how Total Promotions could still be laying claims to the NPFL Broadcast rights when the contract it was relying on has expired and the entity that assigned the rights is dead based on a court order.

“Besides the fact that the contract for the said Broadcast rights granted Total Promotions has expired, the entity that granted the rights is dead by virtue of the cited Court order,” the Board Secretary further declared.

Read Also: NPFL: Doma United displace Lobi Stars to go top

It is to be noted that the Nigeria Premier League Limited/Gte (with RC No. 6862169) was incorporated at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on February 2, 2023 and licensed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to organise the Nigeria Premier Football League.

The NPL Limited is not a successor in title to any previous company. It is also on record that the defunct League Management Company (LMC) had a running legal Confrontation with Total Promotions and prevailed in suits filed in different jurisdictions by the company.

Public commentators have been asking if Total Promotions own a lifetime right to the league broadcast and noted with concern that the company has no record of broadcast production, no equipment and no broadcast platforms.

At the time they kept the rights between 2006 to 2011, they outsourced the match productions to Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) showing one game per week.

The company has acquired a reputation for irritant confrontation to companies seeking to partner the league over the years by writing threat letters and publishing newspaper advertisement aiming to scare off corporate organisations from the league.

The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Board said its attention has been drawn to a letter from a certain Total Promotions Ltd laying false claims to the Television Broadcast rights of the league.

Chairman of the NPFL, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye noted that the recent letter which was sent to StarTimes, the NPFL Broadcast partners is only intended to hold the league down, describing the company as unknown to the NPFL Board and the claims as totally without basis.

He said a similar irritant letter was sent to the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) last season when the NPFL concluded arrangements to broadcast match of the week on the national television channel.

“The NPFL was set up with no assets nor liabilities as we inherited no sponsors or partners. It is therefore an effort to derail the progress we have made to reposition the league for this strange company to go about writing to our partners and laying claims to a right that is not theirs”, remarked Elegbeleye. “For the avoidance of doubt, the NPFL is not in litigation with any organisation, definitely not Total Promotions Ltd, a company we have had no dealings with.

Read Also: Akwa United, Remo Stars  begin NPFL  live  matches on StarTimes

“It is public knowledge that the NPFL has not been on television even before the inauguration of our Board, the question therefore is, where has this rights owner been”? the NPFL Boss queried.

Elegbeleye noted that “they wrote this same threat to NTA last season but we still had our match of the week broadcasts. They wrote to Propel Sports Africa and the live streaming of our games are ongoing. They are to be ignored”.

He assured existing and potential partners of the league that the relationship remains without threat and urged the general public to ignore this latest attempt by some of those who have been ripping off the league through corrupt alliances in the past.

Determined to invigorate organised youth football league, the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Board has set up a seven member Youth League Committee to organise the 2023/24 NPFL Youth League.

Former Chairman of Abia Warriors and a one time member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Pastor Emeka Inyama heads the Committee as Chairman.

Chairman of the NPFL, Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye, announced the composition of the Committee, yesterday and remarked that: “We want to ensure that every NPFL Clubs has a competitive youth team.”

He further noted that the Club Licensing Regulations makes it compulsory for every licensed club to have a youth team that will participate in the Youth League.

Read Also: NPFL: Lobi Stars hold tight to top spot

“The Youth League will serve as the growth centre to develop the next generation of NPFL Players as some gets older and others move abroad. This way, we would have a transition structure and also provide the country with options in youth development football at the U-15, U-17 and U-20 levels”, Elegbeleye told NPFL Media.

Other members of the Committee include the Chairman of Benue State Football Association, Barrister Paul Ede, ex-international, Patrick Paschal, Sabo Abdullahi Eka, Nicholas Morris Kemeghde and the Lagos State FA Vice Chairman, Gafar Liameed who is also the proprietor of NNL Side, 36 Lions. NPFL Head of Competitions, Dr. Sunday Obaseki will serve as Secretary.

According to the NPFL Chairman, the NPFL Youth League will hold during the one week mid-season break to determine the qualifiers for a national championship playoff.