Clubs Again Admit NPFL Won By ‘Highest Bidder’, Matches Lack Integrity

NPFL Clubs have again owned up to the pitiable state of the domestic league after they resolved at a meeting with newly-elected NFF President Ibrahim Gusau that matches were won on the basis of “highest Bidder” and that these matches lack integrity.

This was the same allegation owner of FC Ifeanyi Ubah made prior to the 2018 Elections in Katsina.

The Club Owners had earlier in a correspondence to Sports Minister Sunday Dare painted a very gloomy picture of the NPFL in the last few years under the management of the now defunct LMC.

In that correspondence, the Clubs listed betting, match-fixing, poor spectatorship and non-payment of players’ salaries as some of the challenges facing the NPFL.

Others were lack of sponsorship,  lack of TV coverage, non-payment of indemnities of match officials, unsafe match venues, irregular calendar and ineffective implementation of the rules and framework governing the NPFL.

They restated these challenges in their meeting with the NFF President.

Former NFF General Secretary Sani Ahmed Toro said the position of the Clubs is a serious indictment of all the critical Stakeholders of the NPFL.

“This is a serious indictment on the part of the previous NFF, LMC, Clubs, Club Owners and the NRA,” he said.

Sports Minister Sunday Dare lamented that the NPFL is on its “Death bed”.