It’s Matchday 3 of the 2025/26 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) this Sunday. And one of the biggest football derbies in the country will hold at the Muhammed Dikko Stadium in Katsina United between hosts, Katsina United and former champions, Kano Pillars.
The home side will have to appease their fans having disappointed on their opening fixture of the season on 24 August when newly promoted Warri Wolves ran back home with a lone goal result. On the same day, Pillars were defeated by the same margin by Abia Warriors at the Umuahia Township Stadium.
Dubbed the Northwest derby by the media, the Matchday 3 game draws a blockbuster crowd, a huge dose of the travelling Sai Masu Gida fans and the usually dominant home fans. On a typical Matchday, the stadium and its surrounding areas witness heavy vehicular and human traffic as early as 10am.
There’s the rivalry that brews tension, sometimes rising to physical violent confrontations that spill onto the streets and leaving lots of injuries and damage to vehicles.
Last season, fans of the two clubs reached a peace pact and videos circulated online of fans of both sides cheering players of opposing teams before kickoff. It started with Pillars players going round the stands to greet the fans and it turned to a carnival of sorts as the fans beat drums and blew trumpets singing the praises of individual players by their names.
Katsina United Chairman, Surajo Malumfashi has moved to sustain the new found love between the supporters of both clubs, inviting them to turn our in numbers and recreate the carnival-like air of the last season. In his message to the players and coaches, Malumfashi charged them to be passionate about the game in order to ensure success for the team.
To the teeming supporters, he solicited discipline, urging them to conduct themselves in good manners to maintain the already existing established relationship between the two Northwest Giants. The club boss assured that the match will be played in an atmosphere of brotherly competition, stating: ‘It may be competitive, in fact explosive but the spirit of friendship and fair play will rule’.
Pillars fans usually make the short dash to their neighbouring Northwest state in a large convoy of small, medium and large coaches dressed in their favourite green and yellow shirts.
Pillars have only a point so far from 1-1 outcome at home against Wikki Tourists last weekend, while Katsina defeated Plateau United 2-1 at the New Jos Stadium in Jos on Matchday 2.
The other nine fixtures this Sunday include those in Aba, Enugu, Kano, Bauchi and Minna. Others will hold in Maiduguri, Ilorin, Ibadan and Abeokuta.
Matchday 3 fixtures
Katsina United v Kano Pillars
Remo Stars v Warri Wolves
Kwara United v Kun Khalifat
Wikki Tourists v Abia Warriors
Enyimba v Nasarawa United
El-Kanemi v Rivers United
Shooting Stars v Ikorodu City
Niger Tornadoes v Bayelsa United
Barau v Bendel Insurance
Rangers v Plateau United
