2019/2020 NPFL: Academy boss Calls For League Season Cancellation

The seasoned administrator feels restarting the Nigeria top-flight campaign after a long break will lead to several injuries.

Olatunji Samuel Okuku believes resuming the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season is a sheer waste of time. He feels cancelling the campaign might be a healthier option.

Numerous leagues across Africa including that of Nigeria were suspended following the outbreak of Covid-19 which claimed many lives and crippled numerous activities worldwide.

Football is gradually returning owing to the relaxation of lockdown restrictions across the globe. For instance, leagues in Spain, Germany, Portugal and Turkey have resumed while the Premier League resumed on Wednesday 17th June 2020.

For the West African nations, no decision has been made despite receiving a letter from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) asking football associations to stipulate when and how their leagues will be determined.

Nevertheless, the Tripple 44 Academy CEO suggests ending the league will be the best verdict. He also advised the League Management Company and clubs to start thinking about next term.

“I don’t think the Nigeria Professional League should be allowed to resume. Instead, we should focus on preparing for next season,” Okuku told Goal.

“The NPFL and Nigeria National League have got nothing to lose because our games are not live on television where we would have talked about TV rights”.

“In addition, the majority of the teams are state-owned which means that players’ salaries are paid by the government plus incomes are not generated from gate fees”.

“The LMC can choose some teams at random based on points and organise a mini-tournament for them where the country’s representatives in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup will be decided”.

“Then, they can rule that no club would go on relegation while teams will be promoted to the top-flight. And next season, there would be more numbers of relegated teams”.

“To be frank, the fitness of Nigerian clubs will be really affected because they have not been training and playing together as a team – and resuming the league would mean we should be ready for several injuries – which will not be good for the image of the competition.”