The Nigerian Professional League Board has postponed the start of the 2023/2024 season of the Nigerian topflight league by two weeks.
Recall that the board had originally scheduled August 26 as the NPFL kickoff date for the 2023/24 season but it has now been postponed by two weeks. The organisers, according to a release, extended the resumption date of the new football season by ‘only’ two weeks.
Instead of August 26 starting date, the league will now commence by the weekend of September 8-10.
According to the statement released by the IMC, the reason for the extension is to properly prepare for a full season since it won’t be played in an abridged format. Recall that the committee proposed that the new season be held just like the just concluded season before club owners overturned the idea.
The IMC also revealed that the newly launched NPFL live app which was commissioned last week has not been fully utilised and tested across the selected stadia. It added that there is a clash of match schedules from the four Nigerian teams which are taking part in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup as they begin their preliminary stages later this weekend.L.
Reigning champions Enyimba FC, Federation Cup winners Bendel Insurance and South West giants Remo Stars will be Nigeria’s representatives in CAF’s Inter Club competitions on the weekend of August 26. Enyimba will take on Libya’s Al Ahly Benghazi, Insurance will face ASO Chlef of Algeria while Remo take on Ghanaian side Medeama SC in a highly-anticipated encounter.
Asides the fixture schedule, final touches are still being put in place to ensure that the streaming of matches will go on smoothly and fans can watch all games even from the comfort of their homes, via the NPFLLive platform. Propel Africa Sports are in charge of this initiative and have already shown what they are all about ahead of the new campaign.
If all things go to plan, the 2023/2024 NPFL season could witness the most games available for live streaming, thanks to Propel Africa who have already started with installation of their AI technology infrastructure around several venues across the country. There are plans to broadcast well over 300 games in the upcoming games.
The IMC will hold the draw ceremony for the new season in Lagos on Thursday.
