Owerri-based Heartland and Abia Warriors of Umuahia will now play the rest of their home fixtures in the 2023/24 season of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) at the Enyimba International Stadium.
This follows NPFL’s acceptance of the nomination of the ground by the clubs.
This is a sequel to the withdrawal of the provisional approval for their home grounds during the club licensing exercise at the start of the season.
In separate letters to the two clubs, dated 16th January 2024, the NPFL conveyed its discomfort with the state of the playing pitches at the Dan Anyiam Stadium in Owerri for Heartland and the Umuahia Township Stadium for Abia Warriors.
“The decision is a result of the poor condition of the playing pitch at the Umuahia Township Stadium”, the 16th January 2024 letter stated.
“In light of this, we kindly request that Abia Warriors promptly identify and provide an alternate home ground for the remaining matches of the season”, read the letter to Abia Warriors and signed by NPFL Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi. A similar letter was also sent to Heartland.
In separate replies, the two clubs elected to play at the neighbouring Enyimba International Stadium, home ground of Enyimba FC.
While their choices have been accepted by the NPFL, fixtures are to be rearranged to accommodate hosting of three league games at the Aba Stadium.
Owumi told NPFL Media that “we have a mechanism for continuous appraisal of club licensing requirements and at any point we find any club defaulting, appropriate remedial measures would be taken”.
He added that a further inspection of the facilities would be carried out before the weekend to ascertain if there has been improvements from what they were at the time of last assessment.
The NPFL season went on mid-season recess after Matchday 19 on 20th January and will resume on the weekend of 3rd to 4th February.
