The Nation Newspaper

Tag: NPFL

  • Kwara GM revels in brilliant start to NPFL season

    Kwara GM revels in brilliant start to NPFL season

    General Manager of newly promoted  NPFL side Kwara United FC of Ilorin Haruna Megidansanma has assured fans of the club to expect more positive results.

    The Afonja Warriors have picked up five points since the start of the season with the addition of a point picked up on the road after a 1-1 draw was played against Wikki Tourist FC over the weekend.

    In a chat with footballlive.ng, Megidansanma stated that the team will keep improving and keep getting better. The Ilorin based topflight side has picked up a win and two draws on the road in the current campaign.

    “I think people should expect success and even better performances and we’ll continue to make appraisals. All in all, we know that in time, the team will be in good shape in terms of the players.”

    Kwara United are fifth on the log table behind El Kanemi Warriors FC and Gabros International in third and fourth respectively while Taraba FC leads the log with seven points and Heartland in second spot with six points.

  • Mfon Udoh predicts tough NPFL season

    Mfon Udoh predicts tough NPFL season

    Enyimba striker  Mfon Udoh has predicted that the current campaign will be a very tough and interesting one after helping the People’s Elephants to a hard earned 1-0 win over Bayelsa United.

    The game which took place at the Enyimba stadium enabled Udoh to open his goal accounts and the club’s first win of the season after three rounds of matches.

    Mfon told footballlive.ng in Aba that he is delighted to have gotten his first goal of the season for the club but hopes to do more.

    “I am so happy and I want to give God all the glory. No game is a small team and no game is a small game; all the teams have stepped up their game and that is what we face in the Nigeria premier league,” he said.

    The Aba outfit remains sixth on the log of the NPFL having gathered just five points so far. Enyimba will not be downcast with their slow start to the season but will look to improve until things work out.

     

  • 3SC NPFL tie good for Wikki

    3SC NPFL tie good for Wikki

    Wikki Tourists captain and right back, Mustapha Ibrahim has expressed satisfaction with the new league season match day 1 clash against promoted side, 3SC.

    The League Management Company (LMC) draw for 2014/15 Glo Premier League season on Wednesday pitched together the promoted and returnee sides for match day 1 clash on Saturday, March 07 at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium (ATBS), Bauchi.

    Ibrahim said the season’s opening clash against the Oluyole Warriors will greatly test the side preparedness and resolve for a successful top flight campaign.

    “I’m extremely happy with the opening fixture that paired us against fellow promoted as well as returnee side, 3SC. It’ll serve as good test on the plans we have on ground as well as our readiness for a successful campaign in the top flight.

    “We’ve rookies among our midst who are yet to test top flight action in their football career so the match will be good for their psyche and stability. Again the first home match will help us to ascertain the level of support we’ll get from our teeming supporters in the course of the season.

    “3SC are not newcomers to us as both sides played in the top flight two seasons ago so we understand their pattern and style of play. Though many chances would’ve taken place from the last time we encountered them in competitive match same as ours, too.

    “We’ve new players and technical adviser as well as new attitude and mentality, these factors are certain to come handy when we start league campaign against 3SC and subsequently.

    “I’m quite positive for a winning start to our campaign with the quality of training the new helmsman is giving us it’ll be tough for any side to overrun us. We’re back to the Nigerian top flight to challenge for the title and never to add up to the numbers,” said Ibrahim to supersport.com.

    Wikki Tourists are among the sides that gained promotion to the elite league in the out-gone 2013/14 Nigeria National League (NNL) season. Others are Kwara United, 3SC and Gabros FC (Ifeanyi Uba United FC).

  • Pillars begin Ghana tour

    Pillars begin Ghana tour

    Nigeria   Professional  Football League (NPFL) champions Kano Pillars are on a training tour to Ghana to prepare for this season’s CAF Champions League.

    Pillars will face South Sudanese club Al Malakia in the preliminary round of the competition with the first leg scheduled for the weekend of February 13-15 at the Juba Stadium.

    Vice Chairman of the Kano Pillars continental preparation committee, Ibrahim Galadima, revealed that the tour will last for a week.

    “In a bid to get the team ready for the exertions of the Champions League, we have packaged a training tour in Ghana. The contingent will leave for Ghana as soon as the Super Six tournament ends. The team will stay in Ghana from February 2-9,” Galadima told supersport.com.

    Another member of the committee, Abba Yola, expressed confidence that the playing tour will put the players in shape for the challenge at hand.

    Yola, a former chairman of the club, added that Pillars will be looking to perform better than they did last term on the continent.

    “I am sure Pillars will be ready for the challenge by the time the Champions League begins later this month. The matches we played at the Super Six tournament in Abuja and the tour in Ghana will put us in great shape for tournament,” he said.

    Pillars, four-time NPFL champions, reached the semi-finals of the Champions League at their first attempt in 2009.

    The Sai Masu Gida (as Pillars are fondly called) however went out in the first round in their next two expeditions into Africa’s premier club competition in 2011 and 2013.

  • Bosso impressed with home-based Eagles

    Bosso impressed with home-based Eagles

    Coach of Nigeria  Professional Football  League (NPFL) side, Abia Warriors, Ladan Bosso, has thrown his weight behind the select league players who represented Nigeria’s senior national team in the Abu Dhabi tour.

    24 NPFL players were invited by the NFF and Assistant Coach Daniel Amokachi to execute two international friendlies in January.

    The Dan Amokachi-led team picked a win against Yemen and lost 1-0 to a Gervinho-inspired Ivory Coast side, who played a 1-1 draw in their first game in AFCON 2015 yesterday against Guinea.

    Bosso identified the off-season in the league as a factor that could have affected the fitness of the players on the tour, nevertheless, he was impressed with the performance of the team.

    “With the present situation, I’ll still have to praise the team. The season is off, players have been on holidays yet in training they put up true professional displays.”

    The Abia Warriors continued: “We must be patient with the home-based players, they have a lot to offer the national teams.”

  • NPFL interest growing for Akleche

    NPFL interest growing for Akleche

    Nigeria Professional Football League team, Sunshine Stars are favourites to sign ABS FC midfielder Sunday Akleche, SL10 have confirmed.

    The Akure Gunners have moved ahead of Shooting Stars in the hot battle for the hard-working player.

    With the team recently embarking on a European tour, head coach Kennedy Boboye reportedly spotted some mistakes in the midfield department and decided to turn to Akleche. Sunshine Stars are in pole position at the moment to win the battle.

    Akleche is one of the exciting prospects on the pay roll of the Ilorin-based team and he impressed during the 2013/14 Nigeria National League (NNL) season. His valuation has risen steadily in the last eight months, after a consistent season for his current pay masters in the NNL.

  • Kwara Utd back to NPFL

    Kwara Utd back to NPFL

    An unconfirmed report available to SL10 has it that Kwara United may be set for an immediate return  to the Nigeria Professional Football League after spending one year in the Nigeria National League.

    Sources at the office of the NNL told SL10 that Kwara United have been awarded three points and three goals after the show of shame displayed at the nation’s Federal Capital Territory on Friday.

    Three players and two officials of Ranchers Bees have also been banned for one year.

    The Afonja Warriors battled with Ranchers Bees in a week 30 replay match at the FIFA Goal Project Technical Centre in Abuja.

    The match was abandoned after Kwara United were awarded a penalty by match referee Mr Charles Ozigbo in the 80th minute.

    Kwara United needed to win the match to gain promotion to the NPFL, while Ranchers Bees only needed a draw to return to the top flight after several years in the second tier division.

    The original match played at the Kaduna Township Stadium was abandoned with 28 minutes left due to one or two reasons best known to the two teams.

    The NFF appeals committee upheld the decision of the NFF organising and disciplinary committee that the match be replayed.

    However, Ranchers Bees players and fans took the laws into the hands in the final 10 minutes of the replay when they attacked the match referee for awarding Kwara United a penalty kick they felt shouldn’t have stood.

  • Chukwu wants NPFL as centre-piece

    Chukwu wants NPFL as centre-piece

    Former Nigeria head coach, Christian Chukwu believes over reliance on overseas-based talent has negatively affected the country’s football fortunes in recent years.

    Nigeria’s senior national team, the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations despite emerging champions at the biennial soccer showpiece in 2013.

    Chukwu acknowledged that it was important to get the “the right balance of” overseas-based and home-based talents in the national team.

    “We no longer pay attention to our local league as we used to in the past. The foreign-based players are important but the foundation, which is our league, must not be ignored,” Chukwu told supersport.com.

    Chukwu, who led Nigeria to a third placed finish at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, however, reckons that  “things will get better if we return to the basics.”

    “As African champions, we are supposed to be in Equatorial Guinea next year to defend our trophy but I am sure things will get better if we return to the basics.

    “In the past, we had very good players come through the local league. There are so many good players in the country but they are not given the opportunity to develop,” he said.

    Chukwu, an Enugu Rangers legend, captained Nigeria to their first Africa Cup of Nations success in 1980.

  • NPFL Crisis: Club owners vow to intervene

    Against the  backdrop of the recent  crisis rocking the Nigeria Professional Football League, the Leadership of the Club Owners Association said the body would soon intervene to find a lasting solution to the crisis. Speaking with Sports Writers in Ilorin on Tuesday, the Acting Secretary of the Club Owners, Alloy Chukwuemeka, who was a guest at the Annual Emir’s Cup soccer finals at the Kwara State Stadium, said the Club Owners were making consultations with all the parties involved in the logjam in order to find a lasting solution to the crisis.

    He said the consultation became necessary because the league system must be saved from possible collapse, if not checked on time, warning that no club should be given preferential treatment or undue advantage at this crucial stage of the league.

    Chukwuemeka urged the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the League Management Company (LMC) to look critically at the issues of disagreement amongst the parties and profer possible solution, as the League remains the bedrock of any football Nation and system.

    The  Club Owners Scribe however blamed the LMC for the problem rocking the League, describing the league organising body’s inconsistency in decision making and the alleged conflicting correspondences on the matter as a clear case of administrative recklessness. He expressed optimism that the issues would soon be sorted out to allow for the smooth conclusion of the season, and urged the LMC to be fair and firm in taking decisions in all matters affecting the League.

    It would be recalled that two leading clubs in the Nigeria premier league, Nasarawa United and Giwa FC are involved in match- schedules disagreement which had threatened the soul of the league and had caused delay and the non conclusion of the season.

  • Inactivity worries Enyimba

    Inactivity worries Enyimba

    Six-time Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) champions, Enyimba FC have raised an alarm over their impending first round Caf Champions League clash against six-time Malian champions, AS Real Bamako.

    Enyimba will play host to the Malians in the first leg of the two-legged tie on March 2 in Aba and assistant coach of the Nigerian club, Imama Amapakabo, has revealed that the People’s Elephant are beginning to feel the strain of not being involved in regular competitive action.

    The new NPFL season does not commence until March 7 and Amapakabo reckons it may work in favour of their Malian opponents in the tie.

    “Most of the sides in the CAF Champions League are currently involved in domestic competitions as their leagues are in full swing but it’s a different story in Nigeria,” Amapakabo told supersport.com.

    The former Sharks FC goalkeeper said lack of competitive matches almost cost the Aba club in the preliminary round when they edged out Togolese club, Anges de Notse 4-3 over two legs.

    “Ordinarily, we should have thrashed Anges by a more comprehensive margin because we have a much better team but we struggled because we had not been playing competitive matches.

    “People criticize Kano Pillars for crashing out of the CAF Champions League at the first hurdle but I can categorically state here that the absence of competitive matches was a factor (in their eventual outster),” added Amapakabo who also played for Pillars during his hey days.

    Enyimba will now make do with two friendly matches against NPFL clubs, Akwa United and Dolphins as they step up their preparations for the clash against the six-time Malian champions.

    The game against United will hold on Saturday, February 21 at the Enyimba stadium in Aba, while Dolphins will have their turn the next day at the same venue.