By Kunle Solaja

As the Nigeria Premier League marks 36 years since the advent of professional football in Nigeria, a familiar debate has resurfaced: just how good is the Nigerian league?

The answer depends largely on the yardsticks applied. In football, the quality of a domestic league is often measured not merely by local excitement, but by the strength of its clubs in continental competitions, the calibre of players it supplies to the national team, its commercial appeal and the emotional grip it holds on supporters.

Additionally, at least in Africa, the performance of the national teams at the African Nations Championship (CHAN) is solely for citizens who are nationals of the domestic leagues.

Possibly, too, the number of foreign players attracted to the league could also be a yardstick.  

By those standards, the Nigerian league presents a paradox — rich in history and passion, yet struggling to keep pace with Africa’s elite competitions.

When professional football kicked off in Nigeria on May 12, 1990, expectations were enormous. The transition from amateurism was expected to modernise the game, improve club structures and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness internationally.

Instead, while professionalism brought organisation and structure, the domestic league gradually lost one of its greatest strengths: mass appeal.

Before professionalism, local football rivalries routinely packed stadiums across the country. Matches involving Shooting Stars SC, Enugu Rangers, Stationery Stores F.C. and Bendel Insurance F.C. attracted overflowing crowds and intense regional loyalty.

Today, many NPFL venues struggle to attract significant attendance, while European football — especially the Premier League — dominates television screens, conversations and sponsorship attention across Nigeria.

The contrast is stark.

While European clubs attract billion-dollar investments and global commercial partnerships, most Nigerian clubs remain heavily dependent on government funding, with limited private-sector participation.

The imbalance is also reflected in player development and national team representation.

Since the introduction of professional football, the overwhelming majority of players who shaped the fortunes of the Nigeria national football team have emerged from European leagues rather than the domestic competition.

Even competitions specifically designed for home-based players exposed the league’s limitations. Nigeria failed to qualify for the first two editions of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), losing to the Ghana national football team in 2009 and to the Niger national football team in the qualifiers for the 2011 edition.

On the continental club scene, Nigeria’s achievements remain modest when compared to Africa’s leading leagues.

Enyimba F.C. remain the only Nigerian club to win the CAF Champions League in the professional era, triumphing back-to-back in 2003 and 2004.

Since then, Nigerian clubs have struggled to make deep runs in continental competitions, while the CAF Confederation Cup has remained elusive.

The statistics reveal the gulf.

In the first 20 years of Nigeria’s professional league, Nigerian clubs won the CAF Champions League only twice. During the same period, Egyptian clubs claimed the title nine times.

Overall, clubs from Egypt have won Africa’s premier club competition 18 times in 59 editions, while Nigerian clubs have managed just two triumphs.

The dominance of North African leagues extends beyond the Champions League.

Egyptian clubs won the now-defunct African Cup Winners’ Cup eight times, compared to Nigeria’s three victories. Tunisian clubs dominated the CAF Cup with four titles in 12 editions, while Nigerian clubs managed two.

These performances are reflected in rankings by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), which has consistently rated the Egyptian league as Africa’s strongest, usually followed by Tunisia, with Nigeria often trailing behind.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of the disparity lies in national team composition.

At the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt’s 23-man squad included 19 home-based players, highlighting the strength and competitiveness of its domestic league.

Nigeria, by contrast, fielded an entirely foreign-based squad.

Indeed, only two players from the Nigerian league featured among the 368 footballers registered for the 2010 AFCON: goalkeeper Chitou Rachad of Wikki Tourists F.C. and Akinsola Boussari of Rangers, who was named in Togo’s squad before the country’s withdrawal.

The financial implications are equally significant.

Under FIFA’s Club Benefits Programme, clubs receive compensation for releasing players to the World Cup. Yet Nigerian clubs have barely profited because the country’s World Cup players are almost entirely based abroad.

Following the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, African clubs collectively earned about $4.57 million through the programme, with Moroccan giants Wydad AC receiving more than $1.4 million alone.

No Nigerian club came close.

Still, despite the criticisms, the Nigerian league retains enormous potential.

The country remains one of Africa’s richest reservoirs of football talent, while the emotional attachment many Nigerians still have to domestic football suggests the decline may not be irreversible.

What the NPFL lacks is not history or talent, but structure, commercial vision, stable administration and sustained investment.

Thirty-six years after professionalism arrived, the Nigerian league remains suspended between glorious memories and unrealised possibilities, a competition still searching for the consistency and quality required to reclaim its place among Africa’s elite.

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By Kunle Solaja.

Nigeria’s top-flight football league this Tuesday marks 36 years of professionalism, closing another chapter in a journey that transformed the domestic game from an amateur pastime into a supposedly commercial sporting enterprise.

Professional football officially kicked off in Nigeria on May 12, 1990, when Stationery Stores F.C. hosted Heartland, then known as Iwuanyanwu Nationale,  at the waterfront Onikan Stadium, now renamed Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

That historic encounter produced several milestones. Iwuanyanwu Nationale won 2-1 to become the first club to record a victory in Nigeria’s professional era, while defender Ben Iroha etched his name into history as the scorer of the first goal in the professional league.

The launch of professional football came 102 years after England pioneered the concept, following decades of arguments over whether Nigeria possessed the financial and organisational capacity to sustain a professional league.

Ironically, many of the objections raised in the 1950s centred on issues that still challenge the Nigerian game today,  poor infrastructure, inadequate funding and weak club administration.

Former NFA chairman Derby Allen had argued in 1953 that Nigerian clubs lacked the facilities and financial strength required for professionalism. At the time, the old King George V Stadium in Lagos, now Mobolaji Johnson Arena, was virtually the only major football ground in the country.

Critics feared clubs would struggle to pay players, maintain stadiums and manage operational costs.

Yet supporters of professionalism insisted it was the only pathway to football development.

Coach Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina famously argued in 1969 that Nigeria could never attain World Cup standard without adopting professional football. His prediction proved prophetic as Nigeria qualified for its first FIFA World Cup in 1994, barely four years after the professional league began.

The pioneer professional league featured 16 clubs, among them Enugu Rangers, Shooting Stars SC, Bendel Insurance F.C., Enyimba F.C. and Julius Berger F.C.

Administrators also experimented with innovations to encourage attacking football. Between 1990 and 1994, score draws earned two points while goalless draws attracted only one.

Over the years, the league has experienced dramatic highs and lows — from the fairy-tale triumph of Eagle Cement F.C. in 1997 to the shocking relegation of defending champions Shooting Stars in 1999.

The competition has also undergone several administrative transformations, evolving from NFA control to the Nigeria Premier League, then the League Management Company, and now the Nigeria Premier Football League.

As the NPFL clocks 36, the league remains both a symbol of Nigeria’s football passion and a reminder of the unfinished journey towards building a truly stable and commercially vibrant domestic competition.

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Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, has declared that the revival of school football competitions across Nigeria would be the most appropriate way to immortalise late Green Eagles legend, Henry Nwosu.

Dikko made the statement while receiving members of Nwosu’s family, representatives of Imo State Concerned Sports Stakeholders and members of the football icon’s burial committee at his office inside the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.

Paying tribute to the late winger, Dikko described Nwosu as one of the most gifted and exciting footballers of his generation, recalling how the former Green Eagles star rose from school football to become a national hero at a young age.

“Henry Nwosu MON started playing for the national team at a very young age. The history of school sports, particularly the Principals Cup, will not be complete without his name,” Dikko said.

“At that very young age, he featured for Nigeria at the AFCON in 1980. He is an example to every aspiring young athlete that it is possible to get to the highest level.”

The NSC chairman noted that Nwosu’s journey from grassroots football to continental glory serves as inspiration for the commission’s renewed emphasis on discovering and nurturing talents through school sports programmes.

According to him, the late footballer should be immortalised in a manner that reflects both his exploits with the national team and his deep roots in school football.

“At the Federal level and in conjunction with the Imo State Government, something should be captured to make sure that his name is engraved in our schools’ sports history,” Dikko added.

“For instance, a school sports tournament should be named after him. It is a huge loss for the nation, and we will do all we can to ensure that his labours are not forgotten.”

Dikko also pledged the commission’s support for all activities lined up for Nwosu’s burial and assured that the NSC would collaborate with the Imo State Government and the Nigeria Football Federation to ensure the late football legend receives a befitting honour.

Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, has declared that the revival of school football competitions across Nigeria would be the most appropriate way to immortalise late Green Eagles legend, Henry Nwosu.

Dikko made the statement while receiving members of Nwosu’s family, representatives of Imo State Concerned Sports Stakeholders and members of the football icon’s burial committee at his office inside the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.

Paying tribute to the late winger, Dikko described Nwosu as one of the most gifted and exciting footballers of his generation, recalling how the former Green Eagles star rose from school football to become a national hero at a young age.

“Henry Nwosu MON started playing for the national team at a very young age. The history of school sports, particularly the Principals Cup, will not be complete without his name,” Dikko said.

“At that very young age, he featured for Nigeria at the AFCON in 1980. He is an example to every aspiring young athlete that it is possible to get to the highest level.”

The NSC chairman noted that Nwosu’s journey from grassroots football to continental glory serves as inspiration for the commission’s renewed emphasis on discovering and nurturing talents through school sports programmes.

According to him, the late footballer should be immortalised in a manner that reflects both his exploits with the national team and his deep roots in school football.

“At the Federal level and in conjunction with the Imo State Government, something should be captured to make sure that his name is engraved in our schools’ sports history,” Dikko added.

“For instance, a school sports tournament should be named after him. It is a huge loss for the nation and we will do all we can to ensure that his labours are not forgotten.”

Dikko also pledged the commission’s support for all activities lined up for Nwosu’s burial and assured that the NSC would collaborate with the Imo State Government and the Nigeria Football Federation to ensure the late football legend receives a befitting honour.

Earlier, Nwosu’s eldest sister, Mrs. Ijeoma Onyewuchi, expressed the family’s grief over the passing of the former international, describing him as the only son among four children whose absence would leave a huge vacuum.

She praised his immense contribution to Nigerian football and appealed to the NSC to support the family in organising a successful burial ceremony.

Speaking on behalf of Imo State Concerned Sports Stakeholders, Dr. Geoffrey Ogu called on the Federal Government and the Imo State Government to immortalise Nwosu through football programmes and projects that would inspire future generations.

Ogu also appealed for a state burial for the late football icon, noting that such recognition would determine the level of honour, funding and participation from both governments.

He further requested official approval for national honours during the burial rites, including draping the casket with the Nigerian flag, the recitation of the national anthem and the observance of a minute’s silence.

Nwosu, a member of Nigeria’s victorious 1980 Africa Cup of Nations squad, died on March 14, 2026, at the age of 62.

The former Green Eagles star is scheduled to be buried on June 6, 2026, in his hometown of Naze, Imo State, with several activities already planned in his honour.

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