By Amaechi Agbo

The Minister of youth and sport, Sunday Dare has disclosed that the 2020/2021 Nigeria Professional Football League might just be played with as low as seven clubs if the participating clubs fail to comply with rules and regulations guiding the league, bestchoicesports.com.ng can report.

The Minister stated this on Thursday in Abuja during the unveiling the National Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Hub.

Mr Dare who said that the Federal Executive Council, FEC has approved the categorization of sports and football as a business instead of recreational activities vowed that only clubs that met the requirements for participation in the league will be registered for the new season.

 “Very clearly we have decided that since the Federal Executive Council have classified sports as a business, there are certain steps that must be taken to make sure the entire co-system keys into that business model,” he said.

He maintained that club sides who have not met with the regulations set will not partake in the coming season.

Adding that any club that does not have N200m in its account won’t be allowed to play in the NPFL alongside other conditions.

 “One of the first steps is the fact that our domestic league must run as a business and to do that you must have regulations, financial control.

“There is a new enforcement regime for our domestic league as they must have a minimum of N200m in their account to show they can take care of their players.

“We will start the league with only 7 clubs provided they met the requirements,” he said.

The 2020/2021 season is scheduled to commence next month.