No fewer than 10 Nigerian private clubs have concluded plans to start a separate private league christened, Nigeria Private Investors Football League (NPIFL).
The NPIFL, which will consist of only private owned football clubs on Tuesday announced N200 million sponsorship.
The league organising body on Monday also set up five-man committee whose primary duty is to register the league and get approval from authority ahead of the kick off scheduled for this year.
“The temporary five-man committee headed by Proprietor, Remo Stars, Kunle Soname has been set up to make sure that they get the league registered and get approval from the authority,” sources said.
“When this is achieved, other private clubs who are willing to join can then register to participate in the NPIFL where every match will be live streamed and shown live on TV.
Proprietor of Kaduna-based Nigeria National League side, Kada City Football Club, Ekene Adams, while reacting to why a separate league from the leagues organised by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), the ‘youngest club owner’ said that the initiative was borne out of the how NFF is running Nigeria Football which add no financial value to private club owners adding that private clubs are the ones recognised by FIFA.
“We are not happy with the way the private club owners are been treated like an outcast. We sat down to seek the way forward for Nigerian football because there is nothing to write home about in the league. We then decided to invest in our own private league which will commence soon. Ekene Adams added.
“As we speak football clubs like; Dynamite Force of Benin, MFM FC Lagos, Oyah Sports Surja, Remo Stars Ogun State, Kada City of Kaduna, Go-Round FC and host of others have already registered for the independent league.
“The registered clubs will compete for the N200m prize money drawn from South-South, South-West, South-East, North-Central, North-West, and North-East.
“The TV stations and sponsors are already on ground waiting for the approval from the authority before setting the ball rolling.
“We don’t have any problem with anyone; in fact, we work hand-in-hand with the NFF. The private clubs owners are the real investors,” he concluded.
The champions in the first season will smile home with N100 million prize while the runners-up and 3rd position pocket N60 and N40 million respectively.
The champions, runners-up will not engage in any CAF inter-club competitions.
