2022/23 NNL kicks off March 3 in abridged format

Nigeria’s second-tier club football league, the Nigerian National League (NNL) will kick off its new season on Friday, March 3, 2023 in an abridged format.

This was contained in a communique issued after the 12th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Abuja on Friday.

The AGM which was declared open by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) president, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau, represented by the General Secretary, Dr.Sanusi Mohammed adopted the amended rules and regulations for the 2022/2023 season as a legal document binding on all clubs.

It was further agreed upon that a super abridged league format of 8 groups, will see the Northern and Southern conferences broken into four groups: A1, A2, A3, A4, and B1, B2, B3, B4, which shall be grouped based on proximity in order to ensure the league ends May 2023 as mandated by the NFF.

The Assembly also agreed that all clubs must allow streaming of matches, home and away without hindrance to enhance awareness and visibility of the league.

It was also agreed upon that the clubs must comply with the security measures at all times at their match venues while clubs with a proven two records of assaults on match officials in a season either home or away shall be withdrawn from the league.

The AGA also agreed that 3 points, 3 goals shall be deducted from the cumulative points of any club that assaults match officials or cause any form of violence in a match.

The Assembly further agreed that only clubs who fulfil their registration obligations before the two weeks deadline shall be drawn on the fixtures to play in the 2022/2023