The chairman of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Honourable Gbenga Elegbeleye has promised that the second stanza of the 2025/2026 season will be better than the first.
Sports247 reports that, with the league’s second stanza fixtures set to begin this Wednesday in various venues across the country, Elegbeleye is taking stock of the halfway journey.
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The NPFL boss gave top marks for the season so far but also admitted that it has not been a perfect run all along, especially with cases of unruly behaviour by some clubs’ fans.
Elegbeleye added in an exclusive interview with Sports247: “Definitely there are ups and downs, but it’s so-far-so-good. We are very nice, but we are not perfect.
“Overall, it has been good, and we’ve been able to meet up to capacity in all states. We are now looking up to the next stanza.
“We are looking at the mistakes we made, and we’ll adjust ourselves in order to make the league more exciting and much better.”
He also rated the season according to reports and results that were collated across each matchday up till week 19 and noted that there are more good sides, with only a handful of hitches.
Elegbeleye stated, “It’s all about our scorecard week-in-week-out. We all expect everything to be good all the time, but we occasionally have some spots that we feel might not be too good.
“But, by and large, all 19 weeks of the first stanza were okay. That’s except, unfortunately, for the deduction of three points from Kano Pillars. That was something we wish didn’t happen.
“I really wish the fans in Kano can behave themselves. It’s a big team, which has an ex-international and former captain of the Super Eagles as team manager.
“I’m talking about Ahmed Musa. The fans should have looked at his personality, and they ought to have behaved well.”
The number one NPFL official concluded with a terse declaration that the type of conduct enacted by fans in Kano took the shine of what is usually a catchy image of huge followership in the domestic league.
“Rules must be enforced without sentiments. Getting Kano Pillars relegated may not be good for the league, but I wish their fans would get it right.
“They come in large numbers, and we appreciate the scenes they create for the optics of the league. Sani Abacha Stadium is always a sight to behold.
“So, I hope, and I wish the violence there will no longer be part of the season. The better side of it, though, is that many of the weeks recorded away wins.
“That is what I want, and I love seeing that. We hope to get more of such in the second stanza,” Elegbeleye enthused.
