The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has confirmed the cancellation of the 2019/20 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season.
There would be no promotion to the top tier league from the Nigeria National League while no team from the NPFL would be relegated, the NFF added.
The league was suspended indefinitely after match-day 25 in March, due to COVID-19.
The federation stated that the clubs’ positions would be determined by Points Per Game. This would determine clubs that would represent the country in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.
The federation passed the resolutions at an online meeting of the NFF Football Committee, which had in attendance the chairpersons of all the National Leagues and the President of the Nigeria Referees Association, as well as the Executive Committee of the NFF.
According to a statement by the NFF Media and Communications Department signed by Ademola Olajire, the PPG model will see Plateau United, Rivers United and Enyimba represent Nigerian on the continent, while 2019 Aiteo Cup winners Kano Pillars will become Nigeria’s fourth representative on the continent.
The resolution of the NFF and the football committee, which has been communicated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, will be ratified at the next general meeting of the federation’s congress.
“The league ends at current match day 25 and the Points Per Game table will be used to rank the teams in order to ensure sporting merit and sporting fairness,” the statement read.
“The names of the top three clubs on the NPFL final PPG table as at match-day 25 shall be submitted to CAF to represent Nigeria in the 2020/21 CAF Inter-Club competitions (two slots for CAF Champions League and one Slot for CAF Confederation Cup).
“There will be no promotion to, or relegation from, NPFL for the 2019/2020 season. The NPFL 2020/21 season will start from September/October 2020 and end May 2021 subject to the full reopening of the country and the approval of the health authorities.”
The 2019/20 abridged NNL season, was declared null and void, while the yet-to-commence 2019/20 season of the Nigeria Women’s Football League and Nationwide League were aborted.
The leagues have been tentatively scheduled to resume for September and October 2020.
According to the statement, all dates for the 2020/21season to start are subject to the directives of the Federal Government in line with COVID-19 protocols
