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Fireworks at the Cathedral, as NPFL Super Four tourney kicks off

By Editor
07 December 2016   |   3:12 am
The best four teams in the 2015/16 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season will converge on the ancient city of Enugu, starting from today to Sunday for the 2016/17 pre-season tournament tagged the NPFL Super4.
Rangers FC

Rangers FC

The best four teams in the 2015/16 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season will converge on the ancient city of Enugu, starting from today to Sunday for the 2016/17 pre-season tournament tagged the NPFL Super4. Last season, the tournament was held over two legs in Kaduna and Uyo with Akwa United emerging the champions.

Assuredly, the best of Nigerian football artistry will be on display at ‘The Cathedral,’ the famous home ground of reigning NPFL champions, Rangers International. Quite befitting that the tournament holds at the end of what has been a historic year for the city of Enugu and lovers of the Flying Antelopes, who ended a 32-year wait for a league crown in exquisite fashion back in early October.

This week’s occasion for the congregation of the nation’s best four teams and continental representatives in next year’s CAF competitions (Rangers, Rivers United, Wikki Tourists and FC Ifeanyiubah) is a tournament which in recent times has helped in kick-starting the continental hopefuls’ preparation for the new season.

Two of the four teams on parade in Enugu have had managerial changes ahead of the new season – Wikki Tourists and FC Ifeanyiubah are now handled by Mohammed Baba Ganaru and Japanese Takeshi Nakamura – while last season’s top two sides Rangers and Rivers United have stuck with their Rivers State-born tacticians, Imama Amapakabo and Stanley Eguma, respectively.

The average Nigerian football fan can expect nothing but the best of football contest during this five-day competition, which features four teams that have evolved with some of the best playing philosophies in the NPFL.

Rangers’ high-octane passing and off-the-ball movement confounded their opponents as they steamrolled into the championship last term, while Rivers United had an impeccable home run which was characterized by some of the best footballing stuffs that Port Harcourt used to be known for.

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