After nine weeks of inaction and quietude the 2024/25 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season gets underway today, Saturday, August 31, 2024 with the epic battle between the 2023/24 champions, Rangers of Enugu and President's Federation Cup winners, El-Kanemi Warriors of Maiduguri. The mouth-watering encounter will take place at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium in Enugu.
The feisty battle between the Flying Antelopes and the Desert Warriors will be the only match today while the other 18 clubs in the Nigeria Premier League will get down to business on Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8, 2024.
In the Match Day 1 fixtures scheduled for September 7, Beyond Limits will be locking horns with Enyimba FC of Aba, Kwara United will be at home to Niger Tornadoes while Bendel Insurance will be doing battle with Rivers United of Port Harcourt.
In the other Match Day 1 fixtures, Kano Pillars will be laying ambush for Ikorodu City of Lagos at their fortress, the Sani Abacha Stadium while Plateau United will be going for the jugular of Katsina United in the clash of two United's.
Lobi Stars of Makurdi will entertain Akwa United of Uyo at the 8,000-seater Aper Aku Stadium just as Sunshine Stars of Akure will be doing battle against the darling team of Yenagoa, Bayelsa United FC.
The tie between Abia Warriors and Remo Stars and that between Nasarawa United and Shooting Stars of Ibadan will complete the round of matches for Match Day 1.
While the break was on, football fans and enthusiasts were studying the situation and praying for their favourite teams to buy some quality players to fortify their teams in preparation for the new season. The prayers were also that their clubs should perform better than they did last season. Others were busy monitoring who was moving to where and for how much.
Before the commencement of the new season, clubs were busy playing friendly matches to assess their strong and weak points with a view to strengthening the weaknesses while others used the friendly matches to try out the new players they signed.
Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital was a beehive of activities during the off-season break. First, there was the Governor Douye Diri Football Tournament, touted to be the biggest grassroots soccer competition in the country. As the Governor Diri tournament, also known as the "Prosperity Cup" was drawing to a close, the Governor Douye Diri Pre-Season tournament was getting ready to take-off.
Seven professional football clubs and a non-league side, Krusaders Feeders battled each other for the ultimate prize of N1.5 million. Some of the professional clubs include home team, Bayelsa United, Abia Warriors, Akwa United, Bendel Insurance, Kwara United and Rivers United.
At the end of proceedings, Bayelsa United emerged as winners of the competition with Bendel Insurance as first runners-up and Abia Warriors completing the top three.
The Bayelsa State Government said it did not want a repeat of the heartache that supporters of Bayelsa United endured almost all of last season, so it went for a new coach for the team Landon Bosso was brought in to work the magic. In addition to securing the services of Bosso, who was making a come back to Yenagoa, Bayelsa United unveiled 10 new players, including the Under-20 men's team captain, Daniel Bameyi.
Ahead of the new season, the management of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) took steps to bring about improvement in the league. It organized seminars that covered security, media coverage, supporters as well as keeping the players and coaches abreast of new laws in the game.
NPFL chairman, Mr Gbenga Elegbeleye, said “We are investing in a series of workshops which began with clubs’ Media Directors, the Chief Security Officers and then Chairmen of Club Supporters because we aim to have a better season than we have had in the past,” he said.
While all of these were happening, fans were eagerly awaiting the start of the new season to have something to keep them busy and take their minds away from the unending problems of the contraption called Nigeria. The start of the season will also provide fans the platform to watch quality football week in week out.
The NPFL may have its challenges -- lack of sponsors for the league; poor and sometimes outrightly biased officiating; the absence of television coverage of matches; poor renumeration of players; inadequate security at match venues, dwindling spectatorship and substandard playing pitches -- but hey, this is our own version of the English Premier League (EPL) and we have no choice but to make the best of it. Hurray, the new league season is here. Let the party begin.
