The League Management Company has set January 14, 2018 as the kick off date of the 2017/2018 Nigeria Professional Football League season.
The schedule of the new season’s activities which has been endorsed by the League Management Company (LMC) will witness a flurry of activities including the induction and orientation workshop for the four newly admitted NPFL Clubs on December 14 and the LMC Pre- Annual General Meeting (AGM)/Consultative Meeting with NPFL participating Clubs on December 16 in Kano where the pre-season tournament will hold.
According to Salihu Abubakar, the LMC Chief Operating Officer, other activities scheduled for the month of December include “the draws for the new season, pre-season seminar and spot checking on Clubs compliance to licensing regulations, payment of players and officials salaries, status of facilities, etc.”
Preceding the new season will be the annual NPFL pre-season tournament will which will run from December 11 to December 17 in the pyramid city of Kano.
“The 2017/18 season will start at all centers on January 14 and in the first stanza, there will be thre midweek matches on match days 2, 4 and 5 while the mid-season break will be from April 30- May 5 and a longer break for the FIFA World Cup from June 14-July 15. Resumption from the World Cup break will be on July 18 with match day 25 which will be the first of another three midweek matches in the second stanza. The other two midweek fixtures will be on match day 27 and 29”, continued Abubakar in giving a breakdown of the calendar.
The LMC assured that it took into consideration all scheduled fixtures of the AITEO Cup, CAF Club competitions and the FIFA World Cup in planning the calendar noting that “this is part of the reason we delayed the release of the fixtures and barring any unforeseen events, we definitely will conclude the season on September 30, 2018”.
According to the breakdown of the calendar released by the League Management Company on Thursday, there will be three midweek matches on match days 2, 4 and 5 while the mid-season break will be from April 30 to May 5 and a longer break for the FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 15.
Resumption from the World Cup break will be on July 18 with matchday 25 which will be the first of another three mid-week matches in the second stanza.
The other two mid-week fixtures will be on matchdays 27 and 29.
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
