Sports
COVID-19: NFF To Support NWFL, NPFL For Next Season
The Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has pledged to provide support Clubs in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Nigeria National League, (NNL) Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL) and the Nigeria Nationwide League (NNL) for next season’s football campaign.
The support is coming as a palliative to ease the effect COVID-19 pandemic has had on the football sector.
The NFF’s President, Amaju Melvin Pinnick disclosed this during a live session on NFF’s official Instagram page on Thursday.
Pinnick said the NFF is at the moment expecting a total sum of $1million from world football-governing body, FIFA, and another $500,000 from the African confederation, CAF.
Ekohotblog recalls that the Nigeria Football Federation is expected to receive $300,000 as a grant from the Confederation of Africa Football to help ease the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.
It also reported that CAF announced that “each Member Associations will be entitled to $300, 000.”
He said, “We would take from these various monies and add also from monies that we are expecting from our corporate partners, and see what we can give to each of the Clubs in these four cadres.
“This financial support is for them to get their campaigns off the ground for the new season that we have set for September/October, depending on what signals we get from the Federal Government, through the Presidential Task Force on the COVID-19 and other relevant organs. We are also going to support the league organizing bodies financially.”
Speaking on getting funds for support from government, Pinnick noted that the football body has written to the Government.
He, however, expressed that the body is aware of the much responsibilities the Government is presently faced with as a result of the many challenges wrought by the COVID-19 and it could be a tall order.
On the issue of the Points-Per-Game (PPG) formula adopted to bring the beleaguered 2019/2020 Season to a close, the NFF supremo reiterated that it was the decision of the vast majority of the Clubs in the NPFL, which was also subjected to careful analyses and consultations.
“We did not just sit down and take a decision; we consulted widely even after the Clubs opted for PPG following the work of the NFF Football Committee. The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development was also brought into the picture.”
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In a related development, the said it would prioritise the qualification of the U-17 and U-20 women national teams for FIFA World Cup events while also securing a top-rated coach for the Super Falcons.
But this year’s NFF/Zenith Bank Future Eagles Championship, which was already at the zonal stage before the disruption occasioned by COVID-19, would start all over again.
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