Ahead of the 2024/2025 football league season, President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau, has urged the management of Nigeria Premier Football League,NPFL, to avoid fixture congestion, Completesports.com reports.
Speaking while declaring the NPFL Annual General Meeting open in Abuja on Tuesday, Alhaji Gusau reiterated the resolve of the NFF to continue supporting the development of the Nigerian top-flight league.
He said that as part of this support, the NFF has procured referees’ communication gadgets to help improve officiating. He added that the Federation will also train the referees on the use of these gadgets, all in concerted efforts to improve the league.
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“Let me use this opportunity to urge the NPFL to do everything possible to ensure that we don’t have fixture congestions next season,” Gusau stated.
“You should avoid situations where some teams have as many as five outstanding matches because of their involvement in continental games. Try and minimize fixture congestions by making sure that no team has more than two games in arrears.”
He added: “I also want to commend GTI for what they have done in respect to packaging the league, but I urge GTI to do more in securing sponsorships to improve the league. The league winners, I understand, have been paid their prize monies in full; this is unprecedented in the annals of the league.”
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Gusau also expressed worries over the exodus of players from the NPFL, stressing that it is not palatable to hear that Nigerian players are now going to countries like Benin Republic to play professional football.
“We should package our league well enough to check the exodus,” he concluded.
The 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season is set to begin on Saturday, August 31, 2024, with defending champions Rangers International facing off against El-Kanemi Warriors in the season’s matchday-one star match.
By Richard Jideaka, Abuja
