By Amaechi Agbo

On December 1, 2020, we published an exclusive on how the much awaited 2020/2021 Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL season earlier scheduled to commence this weekend would not, after all, resume.

In the story headlined
https://bestchoicesports.com.ng/exclusive-2020-2021-npfl-season-postponed/, our source told us that resumption of the league on Sunday, 6th December, 2020 was unrealistic.

However, more facts have emerged on why the league may not resume this year after all.

Although the league body, the League Management Company, LMC has remained mute without issuing an official statement on the indefinitely postponement of the league, it has been revealed that the shift in date may not be unconnected with the various NPFL clubs playing in the continent.

Plateau United, Enyimba International FC, Rivers United and Kano Pillars are the league’s representatives at the 2020/2021 CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup. The four clubs are on duty this weekend in their various continental engagements and a source said the need to enable than concentrate on their matches is one of the reasons leading to halting the league’s resumption on Sunday.

Also, the league season was said to have been delayed to enable some clubs meet up with the club licensing and registrations processes

“You will recall that the LMC actually prepared an in house draws which fixed December 6 as the kick-off date of the league. But it was discovered that virtually all the four teams representing the country (in CAF interclubs competitions) will be playing the return leg of their matches that same weekend. Which means that four matches involving eight clubs would be shifted at the opening matches of the league. This does not augur well for the corporate image of the League,” a source told ExclusiveNews

“Moreover, three of the matches that were to be shifted were supposed to be live streamed. So, the best option is to shift the kick off to a date where all the teams will be available to play”.

Asked on the possible kick-off date, the source said “We are looking at 13 December, but that date depends on the completion of club licensing and registration. As we are talking now, some clubs have not done anything about their club registration and licensing.

“It would interest you to note that some have not started. You will realize that the TMS transfer window closed on 30 November, but it was reopened again for one week to enable such clubs to complete their registrations on TMS, and other club licensing modalities, as we are not ready to compromise any of the processes,” the said