NPFL clubs vote to end season

The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs have voted that the 2019/2020 season be cancelled.

With the rising cases of Covid-19, the chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Mr Mustapha, recently ruled out the return of any sports-related activities in the country especially football for now.

This development and after several weeks of suspension due to the coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown imposed on the country, saw club chairmen in the NPFL meeting over the weekend to vote on how best the football season could be resolved.

In an online meeting involving all the twenty clubs on Sunday, seventeen voted to end the league and the Points Per Game System will be adopted in choosing Nigeria’s representatives to the CAF club competitions for the coming season.

With this decision by the clubs, it means Plateau United, Enyimba FC and Rivers United will go on to represent Nigeria in the 2020/2021 CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions respectively.

The three clubs were occupying the first, second and third positions respectively on the league standings before the suspension. There will also be no winners, relegation or promotions for the season.

The defending champions of the National Cup, Kano Pillars, will also participate in next season’s CAF Confederation Cup.

Two seasons ago the league was  ended abruptly with fifteen rounds to go so that they could beat the deadline set by CAF for the submission of clubs for its continental competitions.

Nigerian authorities have imposed lots of restrictions to try to curb the covid – 19 pandemic. The country has so far 20,244 confirmed positive cases and 518 deaths.

Mustapha Hadji