TheCable

Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) was among the 24 leading professional league organisations from across the world that met in London on Tuesday, April 28 for the first ever global leagues forum.  

The meeting brought together presidents, chairmen, chief executives and general secretaries from professional leagues that represent over 1, 100 of the world’s top clubs.

Professional leagues from Bolivia, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, England, France, Germany, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, UAE, USA, as well as the European Professional Football Leagues Association, were represented.

The NPFL delegation led by Shehu Dikko, chairman of the League Management Company (LMC) and Nduka Irabor, chief executive officer, made a strong case for the redistribution of incomes derived by the developed leagues from the Nigerian territory.

Dikko said he was very hopeful that some of the contacts made would soon begin to yield dividend particularly in the areas of human capacity development and technical overhaul of the game.

“The LMC Is absolutely delighted to be part of this inaugural meeting as a pioneer member of the forum,” he said.

“This clearly signifies that the LMC is making huge progress and in the right direction to be so recognised on a global scale.

“The contacts made will surely impact positively on our efforts to improve on the fortune of the NPFL.”

The discussion between the leaders of professional league football was wide ranging and focussed on strategies for the successful development of professional league football in each of their countries.

These focussed on relationships with players and fans in particular and professional league business models.

The objective of the next meeting in the USA on October 19-20, 2015 will be on formalising a new way of working more closely together.