The race to who will be crowned the new champions of the NPFL is set to begin this weekend at the 10,000-seater Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Lagos from June 3 to June 11 as six teams are set to compete for the title.
The Super Six, which will decide the champions of the 2022/2023 NPFL season, is to be contested by the Top Three teams in the two groups (Group A and Group B) following the completion of games in the regular season
This is the first time since 2019 that the Champions of the NPFL will be decided through the playoff format after the end of the abridged league season
FORMAT
The tournament will be played in a league format, a total of 15 games — with each of the six teams facing the other.
The matches will be played in five days as three matches are expected every day
LIVE GAMES
The organizer of the league – IMC on Wednesday announced they struck a deal to televise all the Super 6 playoffs matches live to audiences in Africa and across the world through the popular SuperSport Channel.
This is the first time since 2019 that any game of the NPFL would be shown live on the Supersport channel since the broadcast deal between Multichoice and the former LMC was terminated abruptly
There are also plans to make use of social media to stream the matches live
FAIR OFFICIATING
In other to have the best officiating at the playoffs, the IMC has named eight highly respected referees and 8 assistant referees
NPFL23Super6 match officials
Referees
Joseph Ogabor
Kassim Abdulsalam
Bashir Salihu
Abubakar Abdullahi
Abdulmalik Madaki
Ridwan Ayeni
Saheed Babayanju
Ndidi Patience Madu
Assistant referees
Samuel Pwadutakam
Hope Igho
Usman Abdulmajid
Ahmad T. Mustapha
Muhammed Yakubu Mahmud
Tejiri Digbori
Abibat Yusuf
Moses Alayemola
Four match assessors, one match Commissioner, and a referee trainer have been enlisted for the NPFL playoff by the organizer
PRIZES AT STAKE
1st – N100m & TotalEnergiesCAFCL spot
2nd – TotalEnergiesCAFCL spot
3rd – TotalEnergiesCAFCC spot
CONTENDERS, PRETENDERS, AND DARK HORSE
While i am humble enough to accept that all the 6 teams that qualified for this playoffs are all capable of winning the coveted trophy, however, it’s a known fact that some clubs have better chances ahead of others, and it’s because of this that I would be highlighting my contenders, pretenders and the dark horses ahead of this playoffs
CONTENDERS
1. Enyimba FC – They are the most successful team in the Nigeria League, they ended the regular season with 32 points and as the 2nd best-attacking team with 25 goals (only Plateau United scored more – 26 goals). They also recorded 4 away wins to show that they can win at any centre, no doubt the intimidating pedigree of Enyimba FC will not make anyone overlook them in the title push, and the experience of the club chairman Felix Anyansi Agwu is also a major strength for the people’s elephant and not forgetting their star striker
The last time we played an abridged format league, Enyimba won the title. This is another abridged league season, history might just repeat itself
Player to watch out for: Emeka Obioma who ended the regular season with 14 goals to emerge as the league’s top scorer is no doubt a big name in this present Enyimba team. He missed their final game against 3SC in Ibadan due to an injury but he’s expected to be fully fit for the playoffs
To make it more interesting, Enyimba won the NPFL the last time the champion was decided via the abridged league format in 2019. They also finished as the third-best team in Group A in 2019 before they went on to win the playoff. So history-wise, Enyimba is favoured to have a repeat of 2019
2. Rivers United: They are the defending champions of the title, they’ve missed out in all other cup competitions this season and the only way the team can justify the heavy investment in the squad by the state government is to win the league again. While they may not have a team that could have gone beyond the quarter-final stage of the CAF CC, I am sure their present squad is good enough to defend the NPFL title. Their 34pts in the regular season was the joint highest alongside Bendel Insurance to finish on top of group B.
Stanley Eguma is the longest-serving coach in the NPFL and with the assistance of Fatai Osho, Rivers United can boast of quality managers with NPFL experience that can fight for the title.
Players to watch out for: Nyima Nwagua is the club’s top scorer so far, he terrorized defenders in the league and also the CAF inter-club competitions. He might be too difficult to handle again at the playoff. Ebube Duru is another set-piece specialist that can wreck down any team, he scored 3 free kicks in the regular season and the Super Eagles player is capable of scoring more in Lagos for the saw “Pride of Rivers”
3. Insurance FC – They have the bragging right as the only unbeaten team in this playoffs in Lagos having ended the regular season with an incredible 18-game unbeaten streak equalling Akwa United’s record despite being one of the newly promoted teams. Just like Rivers United, they also recorded 34 points – no other team had more.
The team is stingy in defence with just 11 conceded, their defence is dogged and disciplined and this could just be what they need to shut out other teams from scoring. Their head coach Monday Odigie has also shown how brilliant he’s tactically while they are also enjoying strong motivation from the state government.
They are arguably the best team in the land, no team has defeated them in all competitions this season and they are on course to winning the domestic double after setting up a final clash with Rangers in the 2023 Federation Cup
Players to watch – Imade Osarenkhoe took the league by storm in the first half but lost his scoring boot in the 2nd half, Insurance will be unstoppable if Imade rediscovers his goalscoring form in Lagos. Apart from Imade, Sarki Ismail is another player to look out for, when Imade stopped scoring, he took over the responsibility and got 6 goals. Divine Nwachukwu is their own “Kevin De Bruyne”, he had 4 assists in the regular season and he will be relied upon again to do his magic at the playoffs for the “Edo Gunners”, Deputy Echetta is another player to keep an eye on.
PRETENDERS
Remo Stars – with due respect to Remo Stars, I still don’t think they are ripe enough for the league title. 3rd place or 4th place finish is what I am predicting for the “sky blues”. Apart from Sunshine Stars(20), Remo Stars had the lowest number of goals scored in the regular season(21) out of all the 6 teams in Lagos. The injury to Junior Lokosa was a big blow to them when he joined for the second half of the season, they’ve been unable to replace him and they may pay the price for their inability to score goals at the playoffs.
They have the safest hand in the league – Kayode Bankole and the experienced Ifeanyi Aneamena in defense, yet the 14 goals they conceded was the highest of all the top 3 teams in Group A.
However, they may SHOCK me and once again prove to me that SHOCKER is part of SOCCER
2. Lobi Stars – The “Pride of Benue” and the proud owner of the “shoe get size” slogan was one of the high flyers in the regular season but their weakest link is their defense – they conceded 17 in the regular season, as a matter of fact, they have the poorest defence out of the 6 teams in Lagos for the playoffs.
Yes, they have a well-experienced coach and chairman but I still have a strong belief that 2023 is not the year to win the NPFL title again and just like I wrote about Remo Stars, Lobi can as well shock me too. I will be here to apologize to them if they win the league
DARK HORSE
SUNSHINE STARS FC: Very few people gave them a chance to be here when the league started, against all odds they managed to finish in the playoff position in group B. Many people have also called them the whipping boys in Lagos due to different reasons.
But the truth is nobody is sure of the kind of Sunshine Stars that will be in Lagos, they may impress or disappoint and for a team that went all the way to QF of the Federation Cup and also made it to the playoffs, such a team should not be under-rated.
Edith Agoye no doubt would enjoy the underdog tag and with less pressure on the team, this Sunshine star may just be the dark horse of the Super 6 playoffs
CONCLUSION
I wish all the 6 participating teams all the best, they’ve earned their places and deserve to be expected. I hope they will entertain football fans that will be cheering them at the stadium physically and those that will be supporting them by watching on television.
Kudos to the IMC for a smooth preparation as well.
Let the games BEGIN!
Kenny Ogunmiloro is a football writer and publisher of Braceradio.com, The Head of Sports(English) at Fresh FM Lagos, Ibadan, Ado Ekiti, Osogbo, Abeokuta, and Akure
He’s also a TV Sports Presenter on BCOS TV and a computer scientist
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