.. Caution against unguarded utterances.

The end has not been heard on the imbroglio surrounding the commencement of 2022/2023 Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL season as the participating clubs are set for another round of protest.

The latest em passe is about the format to be employed for the new season which has drawn mixed feelings among the stakeholders of the league, notably the Interim Management Committee and the club managers.

In a statement issued on Sunday which was purposely meant to wish Christian faithful on Christmas by the Football Club Owners Association of Nigeria (Club Owners), the umbrella body of Proprietors, Chairmen and Managers of top Professional Domestic football League Clubs in Nigeria, it specifically disclosed that member-clubs had in a joint meeting with the IMC unanimously voted for a full league with 16+1 votes, to 3 votes, and against a proposal for an abridged league.

The release jointly signed by the Chairman of the association, Bar. Isaac Danladi and Executive Secretary, Chief Alloy Chukwuemeka, alleged that some group of persons went behind to push for an abridged league which is a caricature of the NPFL, a league once adjudged as the number league in Africa.

The Club Owners stated that the decision of the clubs on a full league format remain unchanged and reject the proposed abridged league in its entirety.

The statement assured that a full league format can still be completed within the normal time frame, with submissions of the CAF Competitions representatives and aligns the NPFL with the International Football calendar.

The Association however used the occasion to warn mischief makers and blackmailers who were hired by some toxic interests within the system to cause disaffection between the Association and other Football stakeholders, stressing that Football can only strive in an atmosphere of an enabling environment where negotiations and round table discussions are cherished.

  Bar. Isaac Danladi, Chief Alloy Chukwuemeka, Club Owners, IMC, NPFL