Some adjustments have been made to the Matchday 6 fixtures of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) as a result of the continental engagement of four of the teams.
Remo Stars and Rivers United are playing in the CAF Champions League, while Abia Warriors and Kwara United are involved in the CAF Confederation Cup this weekend.
While champions Remo Stars will be away to Comoros’ US Zilimadjou on Saturday in the continent’s elite Champions League having won the first leg last Sunday at the MKO Abiola Stadium in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, Rivers United will welcome DR Congo’s Aigles du Congo to Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Sunday. At the Stade des Martyrs in Lingwala, Kinshasa, the Congolese capital, last Saturday, Rivers United playless goalless, and will strive to complete the progression to the second round of the competition.
Federation Cup holders Kwara United, who represent Nigeria in the continent’s second-tier competition, the CAF Confederation Cup, while also use the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta as home as Asante Kotoko of Ghana visit on Saturday. United lost the first leg 3-4 at the Accra Sports Stadium on Sunday.
Nigeria’s second representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup, Abia Warriors played 1-1 with Mali’s Djoliba at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Aba, Abia State. They travel to the Malian capital, Bamako for the second leg at Stade Mamadou Konaté on Sunday.
In a memo by its Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi, the NPFL shifted the original dates of the domestic fixtures of the Nigerian sides.
Abia Warriors will now host fellow continental challenger, Remo Stars on Wednesday, 1 October, the same day Rivers United have been scheduled to host Niger Tornadoes.
The Kano Pillars versus Kwara United tie will be played at the Sani Abacha Stadium on 8 October.
If they progress to the second round, Remo Stars will challenge 2001 and last season’s finalists and 2016 champions, Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa, just as Rivers United will be up against either AC Léopards of Congo Republic or Black Bulls of Mozambique.
For Kwara United, the next opponents upon progression to the second round of the CAF Confederation Cup are Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca, who lifted the CAF Champions League in 1992, 2017 and 2022. Abia United will be challenged for group stage ticket by Burkina Faso’s USFA or AS Gbohloé-Su of Togo,
In a related development, Plateau United have joined Bendel Insurance to play their home fixtures on Saturdays and no longer on Sundays. Therefore, Insurance will host Bayelsa United on Saturday, 27 September, while Plateau United would host El-Kanemi Warriors on the same date at the New Jos Road Stadium.
All other fixtures remain as originally scheduled, according to the NPFL’s statement.
