Match-day 30 games scheduled for this weekend in the Nigeria Premier Football League will go on as planned, against the rumoured threat to boycott the matches by clubs, The PUNCH has learnt.
The chairman of one of the clubs in the northern part of the country revealed this to our correspondent when contacted over a purported showdown with the NPFL board by the clubs over financial differences.
“We are not boycotting, there is nothing like that. The club owners have an executive and they didn’t tell us anything like that. So, we are preparing for our match this weekend,” he told our correspondent.
A player with one of the southwest clubs also waved off the rumour during a chat with our correspondent.
“We still trained on Thursday morning and there is no indication that we won’t be playing our matches this weekend,” the player said.
Another player also confirmed that his team will be travelling on Friday (today) to honour their match-day 30 encounter.
The PUNCH had reported that the NPFL club owners association said “there are no complaints or problems” following reports that clubs were set for a showdown with the NPFL board over non-disclosure of broadcast deals the NPFL signed with StarTimes and Propel Sports, as well as the fulfillment of financial commitments made at the start of the season.
Match-day 30 kicks off on Saturday with three matches while other fixtures follow on Sunday.
Some of the fixtures will see Doma United entertain Remo Stars in Gombe, Enugu Rangers up against Abia Warriors at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium while Sporting Lagos and Sunshine Stars lock horns in a southwest derby at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena, Onikan, Lagos.
According to the league calendar, the 2023/24 season is scheduled to end June 9.
While the league is currently going into match-day 30, Rivers United, who just got eliminated from the CAF Confederation Cup, have six outstanding matches to complete within the time frame as well.
At the start of the season last September, strategic partners of the NPFL, GTI, announced the increase in the prize money of the league from N100m to N150m, as well as N10m take off grant for the 20 clubs.
The NPFL also signed a $5m streaming deal with Propel Sports and another N5.9bn deal over five seasons with StarTimes to broadcast the league on its cable channel.
