Nov 3 NPFL kick-off date sacrosanct, says Danladi
The chairman of Club Owners Association, Barrister Isaac Danladi has described as sacrosanct the November 3 kick-off date for the 2019/2020 Nigeria Professional Football League as announced on Monday by the League Management Company.
After a prolonged delay in the kickoff of the new season, the league organisers and the 20 club owners met on Monday in Abuja where it was decided that the league should start on November 3.
As a demonstration of commitment to the kick-off date, draws for the new season were held on Monday at the headquarters of the LMC in Abuja.
It will be recalled that the league organisers had given September 22 as the kick-off date for the new season but it didn’t come true.
And recently, minister of sports, Sunday Dare announced that the league would commence on October 20 but Nigerian football stakeholders received the news with scepticism.
In view of the latest announcement by the LMC, many football stakeholders are still in doubt if the league would commence on November 3.
However, the chairman of club owners told Daily Trust yesterday that barring unforeseen circumstances, the league would start as announced by the LMC.
He said the clubs are giving the league organisers all the necessary support for the league to start as scheduled.
According to him, the LMC didn’t deliberately delay the commencement of the league as he said the failure to start the league was due to what he described as unfortunate circumstances.
“We had a fruitful meeting with the LMC and I can tell you confidently that if nothing unnatural happens, the league will start as announced.
“The clubs have unanimously agreed to cooperate with the LMC by making the necessary sacrifices to get the league started on November 3.
“We are not envisaging any problem so we would start in November and end in May 2020,” he said.