NNL Gets 2020-21 Kickoff Date

Nigeria’s two lower tiers, the Nigeria National League and the Nationwide League One will kickoff on 16 January and 10 February, 2021 respectively the Nigerian Football Federation announced on Tuesday.

Both dates were approved by the NFF following a meeting of its Executive Committee in Abeokuta on Monday.

The second-tier NNL has been on hiatus for more than a year after a break during the 2019-20 season ostensibly for Christmas in 2019, morphed into a permanent hiatus with the season subsequently abandoned following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

The NLO, meanwhile, hasn’t organised a professional league match for nearly two years.

The men’s topflight Nigeria Professional Football League commenced its new season last Sunday, nine months after the previous season was cut short because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The women’s topflight was the first professional football league to resume after restrictions on football were lifted by the federal government.

Other resolutions reached by the Executive Committee include charging the respective leaderships of the League Management Company and the Nigeria Women Football League to ensure strict compliance “with all laid down COVID-19 protocols by the Clubs, match officials and all those who have anything to do with organization of the various matches before, during and after every match day.

The Executive Committee also directed the LMC to offset outstanding entitlements of match officials and members of the Referees Appointment Committee once it receives the first tranche of payment from its commercial partners, Redstrike.