Barring unforeseen circumstances, the 2024/2025 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season, which started on August 31, 2024, will come to a close latest on May 18, 2025. If that happens, it will be the first time in many years that the league will be ending before most of the top leagues in Europe.

As a matter of fact, while the English Premier League has four more rounds of matches to go, the NPFL is left with three rounds. Both the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 have eight more round of matches while Serie A and La Liga have five each to conclude the season. This comparative analysis is to show how the Nigerian league that is known for lateness is becoming time conscious.

This new development is heartwarming because past attempts to harmonise or align the NPFL calendar to the top five leagues in Europe had proved futile. Most times, the NPFL seasons commenced when European leagues were about to be concluded. Such delayed seasons impacted negatively on the clubs that eventually qualified to represent Nigeria in continental competitions.

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It is on record that the delayed 2020-2021 season kicked off as late as December 27 and ended on August 5, 2021 when the English Premiership and other top leagues were about to begin the new season. The 2021-2022 season followed the same pattern as it started on December 17. Things got worse during the 2022-2023 abridged season, which was delayed so much that it had to begin the following year on January 8, 2023. In fact, it was the 2024-2025 NPFL season that started at almost the same time with the big five leagues.

So, going by what is happening this season, one can say that the NPFL is finally turning a new leaf. There are encouraging prospects that the 2025 season will end according to schedule and restart in good time for the country’s representatives to have enough time to prepare for continental battles.

Another significant gain in the harmonised calendar is that the transfer window will henceforth open at the same time with the ones in Europe. This will enable players to travel for trials in European clubs without disrupting their clubs’ activities. In the past, NPFL clubs complained that they were losing their best legs to clubs in Europe, even in the course of the season. With the present breakthrough, such confusion would be minimised or stopped completely.

Therefore, it is necessary to applaud the present board of the NPFL led by Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye for aligning the domestic league to the European football calendar. It is indeed refreshing that the 2025 league season is ending as scheduled for the first time in years. In the 2018 season, the league ended abruptly, and the Champions League slot was handed to Lobi Stars, who were leading the table at the time.

In fact, it was the same Lobi Stars who are now relegated to the lower division that restored Nigeria’s two Champions league slots after they managed to reach the group stage of the elite competition. Since then, no Nigerian club has reached that level in the CAF Champions League.

Also, in the 2019-2020 season, the league operated with 24 clubs because after four teams were promoted from the lower division, 20 remained from the previous season, which wasn’t completed due to late kickoff and other challenges. So, the 24 clubs were divided into two groups of 12 clubs for another abridged season. Only recently, the 2022-2023 season was abridged again due to the failure of the league to commence in time. It is, therefore, gratifying that after a series of inconclusive and abridged seasons, the league appears to have found the much desired stability and consistency.

Even as they deserve their flowers, it must be noted that the NPFL board has succeeded this time because the poor performances of Nigerian clubs in CAF competitions didn’t present the usual headache in form of accumulated fixtures. The argument is that if Remo Stars, Rangers and El-Kanemi Warriors didn’t exit their respective competitions at the preliminary round stages, the board would have surely fumbled with rearranging and prosecuting outstanding fixtures involving the trio.

It is said the organisers had only Enyimba’s few outstanding matches to deal with, which was why the fixtures were held seamlessly. Even as the reason advanced by some of the critics of the NPFL is cogent, there is also the need to acknowledge the work done by the organisers who ensured that the few outstanding fixtures involving the continental clubs, especially Enyimba, weren’t allowed to pile up.

Furthermore, it appears that the board also learnt from past mistakes by shunning unnecessary breaks or stoppages that delayed past seasons. This time, the league didn’t go on break to observe every public holiday in the country. In the past, such avoidable postponements pushed the league seasons beyond the scheduled time for conclusion.

Nevertheless, as we commend the NPFL board for a job well done, we must not forget the sacrifices by the participating clubs and their players. Of course, to harmonise the calendar, the league organisers deployed midweek matches to meet up with the deadline. We all know how risky and challenging it is to travel on Nigerian roads, yet these clubs traversed the bad roads, covering hundreds of kilometers in most cases, to honour away matches and rush back for their home fixtures at the weekend.

Imagine Ikorodu City travelling to Maiduguri for a midweek match and immediately returning home to play another match on Sunday. Unfortunately, almost all the 20 clubs in the NPFL travel by road. Only few like Remo Stars, Enyimba, Bendel Insurance and Akwa United have the privilege to travel by air, but it is not always. So, these long trips usually take a huge toll on the players, while also eating deep into the lean finances of the clubs. Therefore, the clubs also deserve special recognition for the success story that the current season is about to become.

In conclusion, the concerted effort to align the NPFL calendar to the one in Europe has earned the board accolades, but it is still necessary to advise against complacency. Once the current season ends, preparations for the next one should commence immediately. Already, it has been confirmed that the 2025-2026 English Premier League season will kick off on August 16 and end on Sunday, May 24, 2026. Unless there is a serious force majeure, these dates will be sacrosanct. It is not rocket science but proper planning and a commitment to do the right thing.

So, Elegbeleye and his lieutenants must not go to sleep. The gains and momentum built this season must be sustained for more accomplishments in the future. In fact, many of us are excited that for the first time, the NPFL is not playing catch-up with the foreign leagues. This has shown that the league organisers are beginning to be serious.