NPFL: Rangers vs Enyimba off due to travel scheduling

The Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) Match Day 19 game between Rangers International and Enyimba FC earlier scheduled for Wednesday has now been called off, www.aclsports.com reports.

The Oriental Derby’s original date clashed with Enyimba’s Total CAF Confederation Cup clash with Algerian side ES Setif on Sunday and the League Management Company (LMC) had earlier moved the game by three days to Wednesday.

However, a difficult travel schedule for the People’s Elephant ahead of their continental return fixture against Setif has prompted the LMC to further shelve the game against Rangers to a later date.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions in Algeria, most regular flights are unable to fly into the country, a development which has led Enyimba into taking a longer route to the North African nation.

As a result, the Enyimba contingent will now leave for Algiers on Thursday via Doha, Qatar, making their trip at least two times longer that it could have been.

The trip from Lagos, Nigeria to Doha Qatar is just over six hours while from Doha to Algiers is another six hours, without taking into account the couple of hours stopover the team will have at the Hamad International Airport, Doha before onward movement to Algiers.

Sunday’s game is billed for the May 8, 1945 Stadium in Setif, Algeria and a win for Enyimba can take them to within touching distance of qualification for the quarter final of the competition for a second year in a row.

Enyimba’s progress in continental competitions has however taken a toll on their domestic schedule as they already have four games outstanding with more likely to follow in the coming weeks.