At least that shit got immediately investigated instead of ignored. There was a time that this would occur without comment. Otherwise they would have never tried something so obviously suspicious. Nigerian Premier League will hopefully grow along with the countries current economic growth. However money alone isn't going to put people in the habit of supporting their own domestic league. Fans in Nigeria are still bigger fans of European football.
All four clubs banned for 10 years each. Good. Not only was this cheating, it was blatently obvious cheating which is 10 times worse since it shows a complete lack of respect for the Federation and it's credibility. Hopefully the message gets through.
The Nigerian Premier League looks hopelessly rigged, by Will Parchman Defying statistics, the NPL way, by Colin Udoh http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-t...20/so-about-that-79-0-soccer-match-in-nigeria Trust Naija to find some means of making a profit off of making a profit off of making a league a thorough failure. I sometimes don't understand how something can be more profitable to the corrupt owners and government funders of the NPL the less successful it is. Because that is what they're doing. Making the league unsuccessful. On the other hand, perhaps they understand that the average Naija will never give crap about their domestic league so long as the EPL exists so they've resolved other means of making the league "profitable". Which leads me to believe that the would be, should be, stakeholders in the NPL are at least partially to blame for it's failure. If the NPL had any reason to believe that they were beholden to their fans for potentially more profits than what they currently can squeeze out of the rotten potato that is the NPL, then they might come around and build a league worth watching and being proud of. Instead it is what it is... And don't get me wrong. Nigeria doesn't have the market cornered on corruption. But as Wole Soyinka pointed out once, when corruption happens in a country like the US it's usually to exploit the periphery of an otherwise stable system. Because the corrupt who run the system understand that corruption is more stable long-term if the system ultimately has at least the appearance of stability and thus attracts outside contributions into the system. But in Nigeria they don't simply syphen off of an existing system, the system or project or entity itself was never meant to work in the first place. It was only yet another front for syphoning money. Alot of this has improved in many areas of Nigerian society (anyone see Lagos in recent years) but there's simply nothing to motivate a change in the NPL business practices. A good topic of convo I saw on one of the Nigerian forums was the curious fact that in 2011 there were no teams from Lagos. Much like Russia, the NPL would probably benefit if half of it's teams were based in Lagos. http://dailyindependentnig.com/2012/11/why-nigeria-premier-league-is-in-limbo/
Lagos-based club side Stationery Stores FC set to be revived and join the Nigerian second division. http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140206/Stores_to_make_Nigerian_league_return http://www.soccerroomtoday.com/news...o-return-to-professional-football-in-nigeria/ This could be a positive story and would feel even better if we were to find that this club had private or even supporter-based financial backing rather than government backing. With that said, a successful team in what is Nigeria's most populated city is one key towards improving Nigeria's League despite the mismanagement that has plagued it as well as the domestic apathy of the Nigerian market. A nice convo on the Nairaland forum on the importance of the Lagos market to the league's future: http://www.nairaland.com/701628/commercializing-nigerian-premier-league-like
http://premiumtimesng.com/sports/15...ved-global-ranking-justifies-reforms-lmc.html http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/lmc-credits-reforms-for-nigeria-s-improved-rating/170709/ Despite it's issues, Nigerian Premier League is currently ranked 4th in Africa by the IFFHS behind Tunisia, Egypt, and Morocco which is a bit of a surprise given the strength of South Africa's Premier Soccer League. I had an inkling that a part of this was Nigeria's strong showing in the African Nations Championship however the timeline for the study doesn't match up with that. Depending on the criteria, it can be seen as a positive sign for the league with reforms on the way as well as the increased sponsorships but I hope more tangible benefits will come on line in the coming years in the form of butts in seats, private ownerships, and new stadiums to culminate in a team that can compete for continental honors. The note about increased following among the youth population on social media is encouraging as I think that the youth of Nigeria are showing alot more forethought than older generations in numerous areas.
One issue that Nigerian clubs have is lack of quality stadiums. I always figured that investing in quality grounds would attract fans to the stadium. The fans watch games in Europe and then see their teams playing in stadiums that look like they should have been replaced years ago, it's hard to find pride in their teams when the ones from Europe are so much more enticing. So I'm looking forward to seeing Akwa United playing in the new Akwa Ibom International Stadium come it's completion. Although they only mention the national team in these videos, it's been more-or-less confirmed that the local club team will be using the stadium for their home games as well. Here's hoping more states in Nigeria follow suit. Especially Lagos... it would be nice to have a world class stadium in that city. Here's hoping that Akwa Ibom gets great attendance, spends money on players, and gets to the Champions League and shows off a great atmosphere for Nigerian football. They're my team until someone else steps up to the plate... sorry Enyimba... E2A: @staafros Linking you since you asked about it... I wish I had time, which I don't these days but someone needs to create a Wiki page for this thing considering that it's almost completed...
yes, I stay away from the nigerian leagues, so many rigged games. Altough if you don´t know what is rigged you may get lucky backing big Odds lol
Why Nigerian league is unattractive •Nigerians speak No less than 3 ppl mention the substandard stadiums. Another mentioned the joke of teams being basically being forbidden from winning away matches. Many mentions of the lack of adequate compensation to encourage competition. Far and away the biggest slam was the lack of private and public investment in the league as a whole. Oliseh has said it, Nigerian football will not be great until Nigeria decides to invest in their domestic league and quits expecting Europeans to develop our players for us. It's great to get them to Europe for seasoning, but they need to be taught the game, to play a uniquely African style of football, at home.
Monuments of waste: Nigeria’s white elephant stadiums Can't think of anywhere else to put this. Sadly this is the future for Akwa Ibom Stadium. You build this beautiful stadium. A perfect catalyst to revive one of the clubs in your national league, a league which the government owns btw and for some reason you don't have them play their club matches in it. So it sits for 90% of the year,.... unused. Sigh...
http://africanfootball.com/news/551742/Akwa-Utd-dump-too-expensive-Nest-of-Champions http://hypestationng.com/npfl-akwa-united-to-face-enyimba-at-nest-of-champions-in-mid-week-game/ So first there was speculation that the Uyo Stadium had been closed by the developers due to non-payment of funds required for the building of the stadium and that it would not be available at all to not only Akwa United but also the state of Akwa Ibom and the NFF as well. Then, after this was resolved it was said that it was too expensive for the club to even play their games there outside of continental matchups. Well no shake. I'm happy to see that, after a good deal of back and forth, at least one Nigerian football club is finally playing home matches at a first-class facility. One down 19 to go... And look at that, you build a better stadium for a local club and suddenly people show up for matches. Interesting... who says Nigerians won't support domestic football. If you build it, they will come... A look at Akwa's former ground is in this video as well as some conversation about it's lack of suitability. Interestingly enough, it was so bad that there was even talk of them playing their home matches in Lagos. How far it's come. From worst ground in the NPL to the best.
NPL seems to finally be stepping up their game. Stadium conditions are looking better, lighting on pitches and attendance is really looking on the up. Plus the broadcasts are more professional. All around kudos to the league. I don't know if the rumored UK investment is anything more than a sham, but the league is starting to look a real professional league worthy of one of the most important countries on the continent.
The league must be consulting some marketing specialists, because all of a sudden they're doing things that they've never seemed interested in doing in the past. Suddenly there's not one, but two clubs in lagos, television production looks professional enough to satisfy customers in most countries, there's a YT channel for highlights, and stands are starting to fill. It's almost like MLS' model for growth. Plus, they've dressed up the stadiums better and worked on improving the look of the various pitches. It was even noticeably improved for the Nigeria vs Algeria game. I've heard alot of the talk of the improvement, but dismissed them since Nigerian officials talk alot about things that aren't done, but this is real progress. Privatising the league more and running it more as a business is helping.
Did this happen by increasing the amount of clubs in the league, a club in Lagos being promoted, or some other way?
I think that it's more a result of the recent push for private ownership. Both clubs were brought into existence in the lower divisions by local ownership; MFM FC was purchased by a Pentecostal church called Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries and renamed, while Ikorodu was founded in 2014 and has since won promotion. There have been quite a few local enterprises beginning to buy clubs and pump a bit of money into them. Some even with plans of new stadiums in the works. I guess it's a bit of a perfect storm that both clubs were promoted at the same time where the city had spent so long without one. Like any league with P&R, they couldn't simply give Lagos two clubs in the NPL, but I can imagine that there might actually have been a recruiting drive for wealthy ownership groups to purchase or found Lagos-based clubs who might quickly win promotion to the NPL. Anyone with enough money and ambition should be able to do so in short order. But it mirrors the manner in which leagues here in the US have actively recruited ownership in the most important markets of NY and LA. The NFL most recently with the Rams and the Chargers and MLS with NYCFC and LAFC. Such signs of pointed recruitment hints at recent consulting with outside, possibly US-based (since the push for market footprint is a distinctly American tactic Europe manages to get clubs in major markets by chance but they never force the issue.), marketing agencies. Add in the recent and unexpected improvement in the tv production, which is apparently the result of recent tv deals inked just last year that I've just read about. Improved ad boards surrounding the pitch. Massively improved pitches and recent suspensions of sub-par grounds pending renovations. Most of the time you don't see such marked and sudden improvement in all areas without outside assistance in any endeavor by any organization wherever they're based. This is a good thing.