Nigeria Professional Football League, returns.

Months after the abrupt termination of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), the domestic teams are warming up yet for the 2020-21 season amid COVID-19 pandemic challenges. Correspondents TUNDE LIADI and TAOFEEK BABALOLA examine the preparations cum expectations ahead of December 27 take off.

Finally, the 2020/21 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season would expectedly start on December 27, after several postponements this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Months back, the lifting of ban on contact sports across the country was received with mixed feelings by domestic league clubs following the laid down strict compliance to COVID-19 protocols by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

Even when the new season league’s kick off date was moved from December 5 to 27, it was the Minister of Youth and Sports Development Sunday Dare that insisted that the league must take off as he urged the Amaju Pinnick-led Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to start the NPFL in earnest.

“I spoke to the NFF officials, spoke to Amaju Pinnick last week, and I told him, ‘before this year ends, our Professional League must start’; football is a content stupid,” a miffed Dare said in Lagos last week.“ We watch EPL (English Premier League), we are transported to Wembley, through the power of television, and it’s clear that there is no way our domestic league can develop without content.

“I have charged them (NFF and LMC) that there must be content in our League. We might not be able to cover or show 5 or 6 matches, the content must be there. I have received an assurance from them (LMC) that there would be content.

“The content might be gradual but it is just some clear markers laid down, even most especially now that stadiums will be empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fans would be able to watch their team play on television,” he added.

After the Minister’s pronouncement, the organisers of NPFL, League Management Company (LMC) broke its silence by confirming the December 27 kick off date for the 2020-21 seasons.

LMC said the commencement date was arrived at after consultations with NFF, the participating football clubs of the NPFL and Redstrike Group UK, the NPFL commercial rights holders and strategic commercial partners of the LMC.

However, the LMC Chairman Shehu Dikko said huge progress has been made especially in the areas of the infrastructure upgrade, noting that the support of the NFF and the Minister of Youth and Sports Development has been critical in attaining this level of compliance.

“In line with the core objectives of the LMC-Redstrike partnership, which is to repackage and reposition the NPFL as one of the best football leagues on all parameters, Redstrike Group has engaged a reputable and experienced production company from Europe, which will deploy state of the art facilities and other equipment for the television production of matches and activities of the NPFL to meet world-class standards,” declared Dikko.

He added that the production company will be working with other domestic agencies that have the capacity to deliver media contents of NPFL activities.

For this season, the LMC has proposed prize moneys for the top three finishing positions for the 2020-21 season as N75m for the winner, N50m for the first runner up and N35m for the third paced team. Other Clubs will also earn prize monies based on the final position on the league table.

Meanwhile, from the North to the East, the South to the West; things seemed to be looking up in readiness for this long-awaited kick off.

Apart from getting new management, several new players have been recruited by teams aiming for the top prize this season.

Starting with Akwa United that missed CAF Inter club competition participation by the whiskers, club’s media manager Mfon Patrick told The Nation that the Promise Keepers are training intensely with a view towards gaining match fitness under stiff adherence to the COVID-19 protocols.

“Our training has been very intense; we received an invitation for the Governor Wike Preseason Tournament and we used it to test our players’ readiness to competitive games,” Patrick said.

He continued: “We know that COVID-19 is no respecter of anybody and it is still very much in force because we still get regular updates on it from around the world.

“Even before the arrival of the players, we have made provision for the observance of COVID- 19 protocols and we are keeping to that.

“We did everything to ensure our environment is COVID-19 free. I am sure we will do every necessary thing possible to ensure that we maintain the level of COVID-19 protocols compliance even when the season is on,” he emphasized.

In the same vein, Enugu Rangers’ striker and the highest scorer in the league last season with 12 goals, Israel Abia, disclosed the routine at the Flying Antelopes since the return of football and he thumbed up the Rangers head coach, Salisu Yusuf with the ways he has conducted the affairs of the club thus far.

Abia also stressed that the Flying Antelopes management has done so well to ensure that the players and officials keep in strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols at all times.

“We are training under a professional coach and the kind of training we are having is different from the ones other teams are having,” Abia said.

“Coach Salisu Yusuf’s experience speaks volumes and it is moving the players to go the extra mile.

I feel that we can do better in the coming season than we did last season, with the type of preparations that we have had; and personally, I am still hoping to top the goals chart again like I did last season.

“We are keeping every protocol that is needed for us to stay healthy since our lives are more important than anything else and we have been making sure that we stay safe with the support of the management of the club.”

Elsewhere, Abia Warriors’ Sporting Director, Patrick Ngwaogu, revealed the plans of the club to aspire for a top three finish in the league this upcoming season based on the recruitment exercise they embarked on and the signing of revered coach Imama Amapakabo.

Ngwaogu said that Abia Warriors decided to drop 10 of the players with them last season that couldn’t measure up to standards and that the same 10 have been brought in to fill the void created by the departed players and that they have discovered four youth players who are set to light up the NPFL.

“Expectations of every club are to ensure they do well and strive to maintain their status in the NPFL and possibly contest for the continent. We recruited a ‘capable coach’ who has his record intact,” Ngwaogu began in a chat.

Meanwhile, Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries (MFM) FC Head Coach, Tope Bolus has admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic hindered his team’s preparation for the 2020-21 seasons.

Bolus said the team, in its bid to adhere strictly to COVID-19 protocol; has been very tough for them to prepare well for the coming season.

“We are doing everything with care in our team. We have to be very careful in order not to endanger the life of the players and staff as we ensured that all players are free of COVID-19,” Bolus said to the Nation.

He added: “We are currently working with the retained players; even with that, preparation has been very difficult because you cannot go to the stadium with all the players. We have to select the number of players that will go for a particular training. We have to use two balls for the training so as to observe all the COVID-19 rules.”

Wikki Tourists of Bauchi Technical Adviser, Usman Abd’Allah, said his team was nearing fitness level after a series of pre-season friendly matches ahead of the new season.

“We engaged in a series of pre-season friendly matches but it was very tough to prepare because we don’t have enough time for training due to COVID-19 pandemic,” Abd’Allah said.

He stated further: “The essence of the pre-season tournament is to work on the fitness level of the players and I can say their fitness level is about 70%. And the cohesion and integration of the players is about 70 to 75 % but we still have some work to do, most especially on our finishing.

“The government and management are trying their best for the team and we can only urge them to do more. We are also happy that our home ground Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Stadium met the requirements to host NPFL matches.”

Following the removal of the restriction on football activities by the Federal Government through the COVID-19 Task Force, LMC wrote to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs providing guidelines for license application in line with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Licensing regulations/conditions.

NPFL participating clubs were invited to submit their respective licensing application which is a compulsory requirement for all clubs intending to participate in the 2020/21 NPFL season.

From Makurdi, Lobi Stars has hit the ground running as soon as the ban was lifted on the football activities following the COVID-19 according to the club’s Team Manager, Barnabas Imenger; the team engaged the services of new Technical Adviser, Kabiru Dogo as a replacement for the former manager, Gbenga Ogunbote.