Chief Operating Officer of the Nigeria National League (NNL), Emmanuel Adesanya, has said the 2020/2021 NNL Season will kick-off on 13th February 2020.
Adesanya, who disclosed this during a media parley at the NNL Secretariat in Abuja on Wednesday, said 46 teams will take part in the league this season.
He noted that in furtherance to the NNL’s preparation for the new league season, the management has put some measures in place to ensure quality officiating of matches.
“Our Chairman, Obinna Ogba, being a retired referee himself, has been able to sit down with the Referees Appointment Committee and plead with them to appoint very good and quality referees to officiate our NNL matches.
“So, we are hopeful that the 2020/2021 NNL league season will experience a new brand of quality refereeing and we have also communicated to the committee that we will not hesitate to drop any referee who falls short of the required standard,” Adesanya said.
He said the management of the league will also introduce the reward and punishment mechanism to ensure that the quality of refereeing in the league is at par with what is obtainable at the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Abridged league
The Administrative Secretary of the NNL, Nicholas Akujobi, while speaking on the abridged league format to be adopted, noted that the 46 participating teams would be divided into four groups.
“In the Northern Conference, we have A1 and A2 while in the Southern Conference we have B1 and B2.
“In A1, we have 11 clubs while in A2 we have a total of 10 clubs.
“In B1, we have 12 clubs, while B2 comprise of a total of 13 clubs.
“A total of 24 matches are expected to be played every week over 22 weeks period with no less than 536 matches to be played in the 2020/2021 league season,” he said.
He revealed that the ‘Super 8’ format would be adopted this season with the two top clubs emerging from each group, adding that the top eight clubs would then converge at a centre yet to be announced to determine the winner of the league through a round-robin or an elimination process as the case may be.
COVID-19 protocols
The League’s COO assured that the league will resume with all COVID-19 protocols enforced.
“The Federal Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports/NFF specifically instructed that on every matchday at the various venues, the daily COVID-19 protocol must be observed.
“We have transmitted same to our various clubs and FAs that all protocols of the COVID-19 must be observed, followed and carried out to the latter at the various match venues.
“Clubs are expected to provide sanitisers at the entrance of the stadium, washing of hands at the various designated spots is compulsory as well as all social distancing procedures.
“We have written and communicated all these to the clubs and they have assured us that they are going to adhere to all our instructions.
“The NFF has also set up a COVID-19 Committee which is headed by Ibrahim Gusau in charge of monitoring and compliance at the various venues during match days,” he said.
