From finishing second on the log last season, Remo Stars have stepped up, and clinched the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) for the first time since their promotion to the elite division at the end of the 2015/16 season.
It’s double joy for the Sky Blue Stars as the day also marked the 59th birthday of proprietor, Hon. Kunle Soname, who also own a club in Europe — CD Feirense in the second tier of the Portuguese professional league.
The Ikenne-Remo side needed three points to end Rivers United’s chase for the title. And those three points were delivered on Sunday evening through an 84th minute goal by midfielder Olamilekan Adedayo. The match was heading for a barren end.
With three more games to end the season, Remo Stars now have 68 points, as against 58 points by Rivers United.
Nigeria will field two teams from the NPFL in 2025/2026 CAF Champions League, and another in that season’s CAF Confederation Cup. That makes Nos. 2 and 3 significant. Abia, Ikorodu City, Enyimba, Bendel Insurance, Kano Pillars, Rangers and Bayelsa United are all mathematically still in the raise for the second CAF Champions League spot; while Plateau United, Shooting Stars and Kwara United can’t be ruled out of the race for the lone CAF Confederation Cup ticket from the league.
Earlier in the day, the NPFL has congratulated Soname on his birthday. In a statement, NPFL Chairman, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye said the club owner is worth celebrating by the league for his contributions to the league and football in general.
Elegbeleye said: ‘Hon. Soname is easily one of the biggest individual investor in our league when you consider the physical structure that supports Remo Stars in Ikenne’.
He said that the NPFL would become a model in Africa if all the clubs in the league have the structural support found at the Remo Stars stadium in Ikenne.
In Elegbeleye’s words: ‘It is difficult to find an expression that can suffiently define the speciality of this honorable man.
‘All I can say as wishes is for God to fortify you with good health and long life’.
Soname’s interests in club football cuts across the two top leagues and the Nigeria Women Football League. He is also the founder of second tier Nigeria National League side, Beyond Limits FC.
Matchday 35 results
Friday: Kano Pillars 2-0 Rivers United
Sunday: Nasarawa United 1-0 Heartland, Sunshine Stars 2-0 Katsina United, Plateau United 2-1 Bendel Insurance, Bayelsa United 2-1 El-Kanemi Warriors, Abia United 3-1 Shooting Stars, Akwa United 2-1 Ikorodu City, Kwara United 4-0 Lobi Stars, Rangers 1-2 Enyimba, Remo Stars 1-0 Niger Tornadoes
