2024/25 Nigeria football season: The good, the bad, the ugly

The 2024/25 Nigeria football season is yet to be concluded but it is obviously wrapping up. The outstanding activities include the finals (both men and women) of the President Federation Cup and some match days plus special playoffs for the second tier league – Nigeria National League (NNL). The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) and the Nationwide League (NLO) have already been concluded with some remarkable successes.

The final match day of the NPFL24/25 was a colourful and glamorous affair, a fitting end to the rigorous 38 weeks of football fireworks across the country. The Super Six playoffs of the NWFL was also very well organised and extremely competitive. No one was sure of the team that would win the competition until the final blast of the referee’s whistle across the three venues hosting the final round of matches simultaneously. The NLO which is the lowest level of league football in the country also had excellently organised national playoffs at the different zonal centres.

So, it can be argued that this season’s football calendar has been largely well executed.

The icing on the cake would be the NNL wrapping up their season and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announcing the date and venue for the final of this year’s President Federation Cup. As a close watcher and ‘stakeholder’ in Nigeria’s domestic football for close to four decades, I can make some assumptions on the stability of the football climate in Nigeria in the last two years and also make suggestions on what can be perceived as the good, the bad and the ugly components of our game with a view to making sure that what is good is reinforced, what is bad is corrected while the ugly stuff is completely discarded.

The Good

There are a number of encouraging developments around our domestic football that should be improved upon. I will highlight a few and I hope many more positive and encouraging points can be highlighted by others.

1. Alignment of League and Cup Games

The alignment of the fixtures of the different leagues with the President Federation Cup is a major reason for the much improved stability of the football calendar especially in the last two seasons. The awkward arrangement in the past where the Cup fixtures began at the end of the league season left the players and clubs with no off seasons, no time to take a break, recuperate and be refreshed for a new football season. The players are then forced to play almost all year round, leading to rushed, improperly organised, lack lustre Cup matches. A lot of times, the football authorities are even left in a race against time to present credible representatives for CAF continental club competitions. Clearly, this merging or fusion of league and cup games has turned out a massive step in the right direction. It can only get better.

The next assignment for the NFF should now be to get a proper, well planned calendar so detailed that the clubs know their exact match days to near perfection. As an example, the NFF should ensure that the finals of the President Federation Cup are played a week before or after the final match day of the premier football league season. This would make for a perfect season. With the Super Eagles involvement in the Unity Cup in the United Kingdom and a high profile, financially rewarding international friendly against Russia right after, the earliest time the Cup finals will be held in Nigeria could be the second or third week of June. This is clearly an overstretch that should be avoided in future.

2. TV Broadcast

Getting most of our domestic games on television is another massive step in the right direction. The NPFL and the NWFL have broadcast partnerships with Startimes and the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), the NNL allows teams to stream their matches live. Not much is known about the broadcast status of the NLO. Those with these broadcast arrangements already in place can be improved upon and enlarged in scope while the NNL and NLO who do not have solid partnerships in place must make deliberate and concerted efforts to have them in place. Apart from just broadcasting live games, the leagues should create good content like talk shows, highlight programmes and other exciting packages around their products to publicise their activities and stars.

3. Punishment of offences and infractions

Swift pronouncements of punishments, fines and sanctions have also gone a long way in ensuring the stability witnessed in our game. Across the leagues, this season witnessed the lowest number of incidents of violence and poor crowd control at match venues and where there were such cases, the dispensation of justice was quick. In the NPFL, only one club – Plateau United – eventually lost three points and three goals for the unruly behaviour of their fans. Some of the other clubs with the same punishment had their points and goals restored after appeal. Going forward, it will be in the interest of our football if the stiff reprimand and tough punishments meted out to erring clubs are allowed to stand. A lot of observers believe that most of the troublemakers at match venues are well known to the clubs. They are shielded from bans and arrests by officials of the clubs. Until this situation changes and a few of the hoodlums are made scapegoats and examples, cases of disruption of matches and attacks on match officials may not cease. All categories of offenders should be punished and this is inclusive of players, coaches, match officials, fans and the clubs.

The Bad

There are still some bad practices hampering football development in Nigeria. These practices need to stop and the right things done to strengthen the domestic game. Let me list a few of them.

1. Lack of respect for contracts

The level of disrespect for contracts and mutual agreements between some clubs and players, coaches and team officials is worrisome. During the course of the just concluded NPFL season as well as across all leagues, there were many reported cases of unilateral terminations of contracts. Coaches, players and team officials waking up to messages of release and sack on their phones. On the flip side, clubs also realising informally that their players had gone absent without leave (A.W.O.L). The solution to this problem should naturally be the Players’ Arbitration Panel. I do not know if this panel exists in Nigeria and if it does, how active and efficient is it? There have been a few instances where the Players’ Union (now in different factions, shapes and sizes) has tried to step in on behalf of players whose rights have been denied, but it is hardly able to do a thorough and sustainable job. The players’ union wants to basically defend players but the Arbitration Panel provides a more balanced platform to defend not just players but all the other stakeholders – coaches, team officials and even the clubs themselves.

2. Prize monies

Let’s start this discourse with some commendation for the NFF’s technical partners GTI for its strides and investments in Nigerian football. They have really been a pillar of support for the leagues. Despite all these, the issue of prize monies in the leagues and the President Federation Cup needs to be properly appraised. As an example, the NPFL champions for the just concluded season, Remo Stars, cumulatively got N210 million as appearance plus prize monies while each of the remaining 19 teams got just N10 million only. In essence, the 38 match day NPFL is a ‘winner takes all’ competition. This is strange and unhealthy. Close watchers believe that the NPFL should go back to what was in place a few years ago under the League Management Company (LMC) when there were graduated payments to the clubs based on their final placements on the league table. The NWFL offered something slightly better as all the teams that qualified for its season ending Super Six playoffs got something. The champions, Bayelsa Queens, got N10 million, the runners up Nasarawa Amazons got N6 million, the third place team Edo Queens got N4 million while those who finished in position 4th-6th got N1.5 million each. The target in future seasons for the NWFL should be for all the teams that were involved in the regular season to get cash rewards based on final league placement just as being advocated for the men. The Nigeria National League should also strive to do better than the N5 million prize money given to the winners of the season ending Super Eight playoffs last season to ensuring that at least all the teams that qualified for the playoffs got some cash rewards for their exertions. These improvements in prize money payments should extend to the President Federation Cup (both men and women). Last year, only the President Federation Cup winners and runners up got cash prizes. It will be more praiseworthy if the teams that qualified to the quarter final stage are covered in the payment plans. What this outlines is that Nigeria’s domestic football needs a huge injection of funds and as such all hands must be on deck from both the public and private sectors to make it happen.

3. President Federation Cup venues/timings

The attitude of the NFF to its flagship competition, the President Federation Cup, has to change. The competition should not be treated like a baggage filled with worthless things to be discarded or a boring, uninspiring chore that just needs to be carried out to fulfill an obligation. While one can applaud the alignment of the fixtures of the Cup games with those of the leagues, the venues and kickoff times picked for most the games leave so much to be desired. The NFF should begin to treat the Cup competition specially, honourably and professionally. Television friendly centres properly branded should be used for the games and no efforts should be spared in getting them on television from the crucial stages, probably the quarter finals. The timings should be more ‘crowd friendly’. How many people will watch a Cup game at 9am on a week day? And why should women, or even men, play a game at 1pm? How would we ever get the best out of footballers with a 1pm kickoff time?

In the more recent past, the finals of the men’s and women’s President Federation Cup are played on the same day and pitch. The women’s final acts like the curtain raiser to the men’s and kicks off early at about 1-2pm so that the men’s can kickoff at 4-4.30pm.

This is great disservice and disrespect to the women’s game. The winners of the women’s final hardly ever get the time to celebrate their victory or savour the moment before they are cleared off the pitch for the men to warm up for their final. I am humbly appealing to the football authorities to adjust all these and allow the women to also enjoy their Cup final and be properly celebrated.

The Ugly

There are some practices in our domestic football that should be discarded completely and totally eradicated.

1. Uncontrolled, illegal betting

The sports authorities in Nigeria may not be fully aware of the extent of damage that uncontrolled and illegal betting have done to the domestic game. During the course of the just concluded season, a few club officials hinted about it but somehow the matter has remained in the cooler. While curbing uncontrolled and illegal betting may be beyond the competence of the NFF and the league bodies, they can still help the law enforcement agencies in initiating the processes that will nip the menace in the bud. There should be no further delay in beginning the process that ensures that illegal bettors do not bring our domestic football into disrepute or compromise the integrity of the local game. In the meantime, it will not be out of place for the NFF and the different leagues to begin a comprehensive mobilisation campaign to enlighten the players, coaches and team officials on the dangers of illegal and uncontrolled betting.

2. Doping

As crucial as the betting issue is doping. The Nigeria Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) needs to hatch out a plan that will see it commence the regular testing of the players during league and Cup games. The NADA will have to work with the football authorities to sensitise the players on the global best practices of professional sports persons and avoiding the breaking (violations) of doping regulations and rules. This is a very important, sensitive and technical matter that should be handled with all seriousness.

3. Identifying hoodlums/hooligans

Another ugly component of our domestic football that needs to ‘disappear’ is the refusal of clubs to identify and aid law enforcement agencies to arrest irate, unruly hooligans and trouble makers who disrupt matches. The NFF, leagues and clubs need to be firm in dealing with issues of crowd violence and hooliganism in our domestic football and the clubs must be particularly taken to task in ensuring that those responsible for the troubles at match venues are identified, arrested and brought to book.

The Challenge

I would like to end this piece with this challenge to Nigeria’s CAF continental club competitions representatives. I congratulate the NPFL champions, Remo Stars, on their deserved victory. This success is the result of years of hardwork and consistency. I also salute Rivers United (CAF Champions League representatives) and Abia Warriors (CAF Confederation Cup representatives). These three clubs will be joined by either Kwara United or Abakaliki FC after the President Federation Cup final for the second slot of the CAF Confederation Cup.

In the women’s CAF Champions League, Bayelsa Queens will be Nigeria’s sole flagbearers. Apart from the NWFL champions who will play their games at a neutral venue, the others will need to upgrade their facilities and get approvals, after elaborate inspections by CAF, before they can host their continental matches on their home grounds. If precedence is to be followed, almost all our CAF continental club representatives will end up playing their home games at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo. Playing home away from home already put them at a disadvantage in the pursuit for continental success.

Perhaps as important or even more important than upgrading their facilities to meet CAF’s standard is good scouting and recruitment of players to strengthen the clubs for the challenges ahead. The clubs should spread their tentacles beyond the shores of Nigeria and attract some good legs and also put together a very thorough pre-season programme that gets them in excellent shape for the task ahead. The prize money for winning the CAF Champions League is $4 million with an opportunity to represent Africa at the FIFA World Club Cup where another $10 million is guaranteed as appearance fee. I hope Remo Stars and Rivers United will be motivated enough to aim for a slice of these mega bucks or at least get to the latter stages of the competition. The same applies to Abia Warriors, Kwara United or Abakaliki FC who should have their eyes on the $2 million prize money at stake in the CAF Confederation Cup and Bayelsa Queens should be aiming to clinch the $.6 million on offer in the CAF Women’s Champions League.

In summary, Nigerian football has undoubtedly achieved some stability in the last few seasons and is probably also moving in the right direction. The suggestions highlighted in this piece, if accepted and followed, will surely hasten up the journey to the promise land.