A major objective of the ongoing Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) Pre-season Tournament in Jos, Plateau State, is to provide the country’s representatives in CAF club competitions with the match conditioning that they need for effective participation.

Speaking shortly after the draws on Tuesday, NPFL’s Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi, said that the league and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) resolved to provide the platform as a support for the individual programmes of the clubs.

“Considering that our season would be commencing a few days to the CAF Club matches, the NFF and NPFL resolved that it would benefit the clubs to have their players participate in a competitive tournament to further deepen their fitness and cohesion,” Owumi explained.

League champions, Rangers International and runners-up, Rivers United, alongside the Federation Cup winners, El-Kanemi Warriors, are in Jos to participate in the tournament that also features two wild cards from the host state, Plateau United and Mighty Jets. Katsina United had a late call-up to replace Shooting Stars.

Owumi said that the fixtures have been tailored to provide the continental competition clubs a guaranteed four matches from the round-robin stage to the finals.

“We acknowledge the support of the NFF in securing the buy-in of the Plateau State Government to host the tournament, and we expect to see the clubs and their players take advantage of the platform to fine-tune their match preparations and plans going into the competition,” declared Owumi.

Rivers United, Plateau United, El-Kanemi Warriors and Mighty Jets featured on Matchday 1 yesterday, while El-Kanemi Warriors play Katsina United and Rangers play Rivers United on Matchday 2 today.

The final will be decided on August 23. All fixtures are at the New Jos Township Stadium.