The 2020/21 Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season is set to start on the weekend of December 6, www.aclsports.com reports.
The new season which will feature the same twenty teams that campaigned in the truncated 2019/20 season is expected to commence with a mouth watering Abia Clasico between Enyimba FC and Abia Warriors in Aba on December 5.
The Apex league in Nigeria went on an emergency break owing to the Coronavirus pandemic on March 19, before the league was called off in July after consultations between the league’s organising body and participating clubs.
In a fixture schedule made available to ACLSports on Monday, the league is expected to run for seven months, with the final round of matches scheduled to hold on July 4, 2021.
Other notable fixtures in the opening round of matches include the battle between Rivers United and Rangers International in Port Harcourt and the Qua Iboe Derby between Akwa United and Dakkada FC in Uyo.There is however a possibility that the quartet of Plateau United, Enyimba, Rivers United and Kano Pillars would be exempted from the opening round of matches as it is expected to fall on the weekend of CAF matches.
The released schedule also revealed the venues for some of the participating teams whose home grounds have been certified not fit to host games by the league body.
Stadiums in Umuahia, Nnewi, Yola, Dutse, Warri, Lafia among others have been certified unfit to host matches, meaning that teams that occupy such venues will have to select from a pool of nearest fit venues.
