Ex-Super Eagles, NPFL players to grace abridged league draws

The Interim Management Committee (IMC) has said arrangements have been concluded for a glamorous 2022/23 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) draws event to usher in the new season.

Chairman of the IMC, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, has hinted that at the heart of the plans for the event is the invitation of former Nigerian internationals and NPFL players to the event which will be held at 2pm today at Sandralia Hotel in Abuja.

Further to this, the IMC also disclosed through a memo to the clubs that it has secured the approval of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to hold the draw for an abridged format of the season.

In the memo, the IMC wrote, “Recall the meeting of IMC with Club Owners on the 21st December 2022 at Sandralia Hotel, where it was decided that the IMC will inform the NFF on the decision to organize the draws for the 2022/2023 league on the 28th December, 2022 and that the league will commence on the 8th of January 2023 on abridged league format…”

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“The purpose of this letter is to convey the approval of the NFF to organize the draws and the league will commence on January 8, 2023 on an abridged league format”, the memo stated.

However, the position of most of the club chairmen against the planned abridged league is unchanged as some of them who spoke to our reporter yesterday insisted they were not going to be part of today’s event.

It will be recalled that the Club Owners Association had categorically stated that its members would boycott the draws, if the IMC insists on going ahead with its abridged league format.

The body had said at least 17 of its members had voted for a full league instead of an abridged league.

Therefore, one of the club chairmen said the IMC is embarking on a fruitless venture.

“We are not going to change our earlier position. They have not shifted their position so we are not shifting either. If they like they should continue to waste their time. When they are ready for the league to start, they will listen to us,” he said.