New NPFL Season To Start December – LMC Boss
Shehu Dikko, LMC chairman[/caption]
The 2016/2017 Nigeria professional football League (NPFL) will begin in December, the League Management Company, LMC, said on Thursday.
LMC chairman, Shehu Dikko, who disclosed this to newsmen in Abuja, added that the reason for bringing the date forward was to benefit Nigerian clubs playing in the continent and players going for trials in Europe next season.
The NPFL usually commences in February each year, however the upcoming season might be different.
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“We are looking at December, 2016 to start the new season,” Dikko told CompleteSportsNigeria. “We have told the club sides to start getting prepared and I’m aware that some of them have been notifying their players to return to camp for training to commence.If we get the full cooperation of the clubs in the area of preseason formalities,the league will commence in December.
“Our club sides have not been doing well in CAF (Confederation Of African Football)competitions in recent years and one of the reasons for their dismal showing is that we start our league season in January or February of the new year which is too late for our representatives to strike a rhythm before going on the continent.
“Also, we want to align our season with that of Europe so that players traveling abroad for recruitment trails will not have to leave mid-season.We hope we can achieve that change this time around,” the LMC boss added.
