Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Gbenga Elegbeleye, has revealed that the league body is in search of sponsors for the procurement of Video Assistant Referee machines for the Nigerian topflight.
Elegbeleye made this known while addressing the media during an end-of-season parley in Abuja.
The introduction of VAR has usually come to the fore in the NPFL, no thanks to some questionable officiating which has marred the image of the league.
The NPFL boss however defended the referees, noting that the Nigerian officials are among the best in the world.
To aid their delivery, Elegbeleye admits that the league needs VAR, having adopted the use of communication gadgets in the 2024/25 season.
‘The next level now is that we want to advance to the level of having a VAR here’, Elegbeleye said.
‘The stage we are at now is that we are looking for sponsors to be able to acquire the VAR machine. We are ready to go the VAR way but the machines are quite expensive, so if you have it, you have to train those that will handle it.
‘I want to tell you again, that the Nigeria Football Federation shortlisted 10 of our referees who are computer literate to go to Morocco for training.
‘We as a league body had an online meeting with the manufacturers of VAR and the producers of the machine. First, before you can use it, you must be able to use communication gadgets. You don’t have to go all out to look at the screen all the time, you can communicate with those behind the machine and they will guide your decision’.
The NPFL board has also announced 22 August as the date for the commencement of the 2025/26 season.
