The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has made the possession of Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) B licence mandatory for any head coach to sit on the bench in its league match.
With Saturday’s kickoff of the 2023/24 season just three days away, the NPFL announced further activities, explaining that the requirement is part of the its determination to improve the quality of technical performance of the clubs.
In a statement on Wednesday, NPFL Chief Operating Officer, Davidson Owumi told NPFL Media: “One of the areas of the league we seek to improve in the new season is the area of technical performance of our teams through the players. And this can only be achieved by having competent managers on the bench.
“For this season, we will only allow head coaches with a minimum qualification of the CAF B licence to sit on the bench. This may be reviewed upwards next season”.
He said the measure is coming into force to trigger the coaches to acquire trainings that would improve what they offer to players.
“The idea is to encourage our coaches to improve themselves through higher certifications by participating in reputable courses”, Owumi explained, describing coaching as one of the problem areas that the league must solve in order to grow the game and produce highly technical players
The season starts on Saturday at eight centres with the fixtures in Port Harcourt and Aba postponed due to continental fixtures of Rivers United and Bendel Insurance. Both are facing Algerian and Burkina Faso opponents in the second round of the CAF Confederation Cup.
While Insurance were to face cup holders, Enyimba in Aba, Rivers United were to host last season’s runner-up, Remo Stars in Port Harcourt.
