Yes, I said it. Scrap the NPFL and appoint me chairman today.
Actually, maybe don’t. Village people would have my head before I reach the secretariat.
Now, I don’t write about football with any regularity. I spend most of my time designing products, systems and brands. But football is one of the big passions of my life: Arsenal, the Super Eagles and everything in-between. So trust me, Nigeria missing two World Cups in a row, the second after the tournament expanded to 48 teams, has been a bitter pill to swallow.
So today, while waiting to back England against Argentina in the WC semi-final (via the Arsenal + Nigeria quartet of Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, Eberechi Eze and honorary Naija boy, Declan Rice), I decided to cook for a minute.
I think we need to scrap the current Nigerian Premier Football League model to ‘save’ Nigerian club football. There’s plenty evidence that the quality of a country’s club football directly feeds how its national team performs.
The NPFL must thrive for the Super Eagles and Falcons to do same. It’s that simple.
The NPFL today is a single nationwide league of 20 clubs, each playing the rest home and away: 38 match-days per team.
Just this January, the NPFL was rated 91st in global league rankings, 12th amongst leagues in Africa.
Someone please tell me why Kano Pillars are travelling to Enugu and back, or Rangers doing the reverse, every week with our roads, transport costs and security problems?
I propose we split the league into regional competitions. Clubs play closer to home, then the top two or three from each region enter a national round-robin playoff. Winner takes all.
Travel costs drop. Local derbies become easier to market. Regional brands get a clearer reason to sponsor clubs. And the national phase becomes a proper event, potentially Big Brother Naija scale. Nigerians already pour attention and money into Arsenal and Man United every weekend. The appetite was never the problem. Access and product quality are.
Clubs spend less, earn more, maintain better infrastructure, pay players properly and start attracting private capital. Academies then become practical, even optimal, as clubs realise there is money in developing and selling elite talent at home and abroad.
Government MUST still play a big role. Co-fund stadium upgrades, guarantee safer travel and security, unbundle broadcasting rules, then get out of the way. NEVER own or run clubs.
The NFF and NPFL should guarantee fixtures, demand transparent ownership and enforce their own rules. They already require clubs to run youth teams and enter them into competitions. As far as I know, nobody enforces it. Another correct idea sitting inside a PDF.
One more thing I don’t get: why don’t Nigerian politicians go crazy with sport? It’s such an easy layup in a football-mad country like ours. Look at how naturally people connect with Zohran Mamdani through his love for the Knicks and Arsenal. Nobody voted for him because of Arsenal, but it makes him feel human in a way no campaign photoshoot can manufacture.
You don’t need to run a football club to recognise a systems problem.
I mean, you should actually. All solid points,let’s build & market our own league too and export our players or not.