LMC talks tough ahead abridged league

• To deduct three points from club found guilty of violent conduct • Fuludu backs new format
The League Management Committee (LMC) has told all clubs involved in the abridged league to shun every act of violence or be ready to face a stiffer penalty.

Amid objections by some stakeholders, the LMC, yesterday, rolled out its plans to kick off the abridged league on January 8, 2023.

“Any club, which engage in violent conducts will not be sanctioned with N500,000.00 as was the case in the past, but have three points deducted as punishment,” the chairman of the Nigeria Professional League Interim Management Committee, Gbenga Elegbeleye, said yesterday.

“We know what it means to have three points deducted from points already earned by a club in the league. Clubs have been informed to shun every act of violence during the course of the league,” he said.

In the draws held at the Sandralia Hotel, Jabi, Abuja, the IMC split the 20 league clubs into two groups of 10 in an abridge version.

Two times CAF Champions League Champions, Enyimba, Nassarawa United and newly promoted Bendel Insurance are grouped in Group A which also has Plateau United, Kwara United and El Kanemi, with Group B having last seasons champions, Rivers United, Dakkada, Abia Warriors and Bayelsa United, who also got promoted alongside Doma United in this same group.

Meanwhile, former Super Eagles winger, Edema Fuludu, has thrown his weight behind the kick off of the abridged league, describing those objecting to it as enemies of Nigerian football.

“I don’t know why some people are objecting to the abridged league,” Fuludu told The Guardian. “If our league must be in conformity with what is obtainable in parts of the world, then we have to accept the abridged league, which I feel is most realistic now, because 2023 is a General Elections year in Nigeria and the target is for the season to end in May. The Players Union is in support of the new format,” Fuludu stated.

The new NPFL season will kick off on January 8, 2023 and end in May.