The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) is set to kick-off on the 27th of December, 2020, the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare has said.
Dare disclosed this at a press briefing at the National Stadium in Lagos on Friday, calming nerves over the resumption of the Nigerian league which has been on a break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister dismissed insinuations that the country’s football is dead but admitted that interest in Nigerian football has waned over the years.
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He noted that aside from the pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives across the globe, the football league in the West African country has not resumed due to issues with the organisers.
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According to him, the ministry will be meeting with the NPFL and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to fine-tune plans for the restart of football in the country. Clubs, he further mentioned, will be assessed for their readiness to resume action, stressing that the league will resume with the teams that are ready.
Sports enthusiasts had linked the poor outing of Nigerian teams in the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederations Cup to the halting of the league.
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Both Plateau United and Kano Pillars recently crashed out of the Champions League and the Confederations Cup respectively, heightening calls for the resumption of the domestic league.
NFF President, Amaju Pinnick had on March 19th, 2020 announced the closure of football activities in Nigeria, citing the increased number of COVID-19 cases in the nation (five as of then).
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