After a long spell on the sideline, football lovers across the globe will be have opportunity to watch the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) matches when the 2022/23 season gets underway next month.
The Chairman Interim Management Committee (IMC), Honourable Gbenga Elegbeleye disclosed this while speaking to the media in Abuja after a meeting between the IMC and the 20 NPFL clubs.
Hon Elegbeleye insisted that venues must be television friendly to showcase the league and players to the outside world.
The former National Sports Commission director general said, “We have set the standard for the matches to be televised live, and any club that fail to meet the standard set for facilities will have to choose another venue for their home games.
“Our leagues have been in the dark ages for some time, and now we want to expose our league and players to the outside world. We have had fruitful meeting with the club owners participating in the league on the matter, and we are on the same page”.
According to him, the date of the commencement of the league would be made known after meeting with the Executive Committee members of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF.
He was emphatic when he said that the league, when it kicks off, would be great as adequate arrangement towards securing sponsors have been made, “which is the reason we’re laying emphasis on television friendly venues”.
“We discussed club licensing and facilities. We made the clubs’ representatives understand that if their stadium failed to meet the required standard, they have to go elsewhere for their home games.
“We want to put our league matches on the television and the pitch must be television friendly for the whole world to see Nigerian league. We want the players to be exposed to the world”, he said.
We have number of sponsors already that will enable the league to be shown on TV. However, we still need to brief the NFF on sponsorship. “What I can assure everyone is that this season’s league will be better than we are used to have in the past.” the former National Sports Commission boss said.
