Friday, 29th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Take advantage of FIFA’s plan to raise Club World Cup to 32 teams, Okpala charges NPFL clubs

By Alex Monye
09 January 2023   |   4:38 am
Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Sylvanus Okpala, has said the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs need to take advantage of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) plan to increase the number of teams taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup to 32 by 2025.

Sylvanus Okpala

Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Sylvanus Okpala, has said the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs need to take advantage of the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) plan to increase the number of teams taking part in the FIFA Club World Cup to 32 by 2025.

The Club World Cup is a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation’s league champions. The next edition of the tournament will be held between February 1 and 11 in Morocco.

Speaking with The Guardian, at the weekend, Okpala advised stakeholders of NPFL to make efforts at revamping the country’s league to ensure that Nigerian clubs excel in the CAF club competitions in a bid to stand a chance to be among the 32 teams that will be at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

The former international added that the country’s clubs have not succeeded in the CAF organised tournament in recent times to stand a chance of being part of FIFA Club World Cup competition.

Okpala stated that countries that know what it requires to attain success in football are taking advantage of it, while Nigeria is still lagging behind in putting the league in the right standard to attract good sponsors and quality football.

“FIFA expanding the Club World Cup tournament to 32 teams to make the competition look more attractive is a nice idea. But the question is, can NPFL teams even qualify from Africa to be among these 32 teams?” Okpala asked.

0 Comments