Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs have been directed to ignore speculations in the media suggesting that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has ordered the suspension of the league.
Chairman of the League Management Company (LMC), Shehu Dikko, clarified on Tuesday that the statement by the NFF on its Twitter account was very unambiguous that Match Commissioners and host state Football Associations must ensure that all medical requirements including equipment and personnel must be in place before starting a particular game.
Dikko reproduced the NFF Statement which read: ‘The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) regrets the incidence in Lafia involving a player of Nasarawa United and further condole the immediate family of the late player and the football Stakeholders at large.
‘The NFF has in conjunction with the Ministry of Sports engaged the LMC and reviewed the situation. As an immediate first step, it has directed that no further match be played except there is full complement of the medical equipment and personnel as provided in the NFF Club Licensing Regulations.
‘All Match Commissioners and the host FA are to ensure they inspect all the facilities including carrying out test runs before giving go-ahead for any match to be played.’
“The above statement does not translate to a blanket suspension of the league but not to allow a game to start at any venue that is in breach”, stated Dikko.
He further noted that “while the incident in Lafia remains unfortunate, it needs to be stated that Match Commissioners are always armed with a checklist of pre-match requirements covering security, state of changing room and pitches as well as the medicals. What is in place now is stricter enforcement of the requirements.
