The Interim Management Committee (IMC), of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has assured that apart from those already disrupted by the CAF Confederation Cup matches that involved Rivers United, fixtures would be played as scheduled.
It will be recalled that Rivers United exited the competition last Sunday at the quarter-final stage after a 2-0 aggregate score against Young Africans of Tanzania.
The Port Harcourt side, playing in Group B of the NPFL had some fixtures rescheduled to enable them to have full focus on the continental ties.
“Our fixtures fidelity has been proven from the kickoff and we are working to accommodate Rivers United’s outstanding games to ensure the season is concluded with minimal blip”, said IMC’s Head of Operations, Davidson Owumi.
He announced that MatchDay 17 will be played this weekend in both groups in line with the calendar and commended Rivers United for reaching the knockout stage of the competition.
“While we work around dates to reschedule outstanding matches of Rivers United, the weekend games will be played as scheduled in the two groups. We won’t be distracted by incendiary comments or actions from any quarters”.
“Our desire is to see Nigerian clubs go all the way in the competition and this will naturally affect our fixtures just as it does elsewhere. All we need to do is to find acceptable dates that won’t unduly pile pressure on our representatives and that’s what we are going to do in the coming days”, said Owumi.
“After MatchDay 17, Group B matches would be paused to allow Rivers United to complete their backlog and we hope to accomplish this within the month”, the former Nigerian international told IMC Media,” he explained.
