Nigeria Professional Football League gets new commencement date

Nigeria’s Minister for Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, has given an indication that the 2020/21 Nigeria Professional Football League season will finally resume on Sunday, December 27, 2020.

The minister made the disclosure on Friday while answering questions from journalists.

He explained that one of the main reasons why the league resumption was delayed was because of the slow pace of compliance by clubs in the newly-introduced club licensing regime.

“I can tell you that even though we have taken so long to start, we are about to start, by the 27th of this month, we hope the professional football league will start,” the minister stated.

Watch @SundayDareSD talking about why the league has not started and when the NPFL will kick off. pic.twitter.com/HffbEHWBSR

— Serial Media (@SerialMediaa) December 18, 2020

For Mr Dare, the timing should not be a big deal as it is more pertinent for action to resume than dilly-dallying on whether it is a festive period or not.

“The point is not a question whether it is Christmas or New Year… let’s just get this started… Many countries will have their athletes in camp during Christmas and New Year and even in this country, we have had the same in the past.

The minister said talks are still ongoing with the Nigeria Football Federation who have been providing the right updates.

“After meeting (with journalists), I am going to have another one with the NFF to examine what we have so far, the details, and other things …. We just need to get started,” he said.

There has been no action in the country’s elite football league for over eight months since the 2019/20 season was abruptly ended on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

After the ban on contact sports was lifted by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, a tentative date of November 15 was initially suggested before December 6 and 18 also popped up as the potential start dates for the long belated 2020/21 season.