The board of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has announced the schedule for the 2025/2026 campaign as it bids to sustain the calendar established last term.
The NPFL board confirmed on Friday that next season will kick off on August 22, 2025 and end on May 24, 2026.
At a review of the last season statistics and projection for the new season, Chairman of the NPFL, Gbenga Elegbeleye, said the league was determined to establish a tradional period for the competition to enable clubs, players, match officials and scouts to plan their own calendar.
He recalled that the board kept to its calendar for the last season, which began on August 31, 2024 and concluded on May 25, 2025.
“This is the first time in many years, perhaps since the start of the new era Nigeria Premier Football League in 2005, (20 years) that a date for kick-off and ending will be faithfully implemented,” Elegbeleye said.
“That is a commitment we made and a promise delivered.”
The NPFL boss said the season was remarkable in the emergence of Remo Stars as the champions with three matches to spare after defeating Niger Tornadoes on Matchday 35 on April 27.
Giving a breakdown of the numbers, Elegbeleye noted that of the total of 380 games, there were 286 wins and 94 were drawn with a total of 784 goals scored.
Further breakdown shows that there were 244 home wins and 42 away wins, with
552 goals scored at home and 232 scored by visiting teams, out of which 60 were from the penalty spot.
Sixteen penalties were missed, bringing the total penalties awarded to 76. In all, 13 of the goals were own goals and there were four hat-tricks.
On disciplinary measures, Elegbeleye said that a total of 1,380 yellow cards were issued, while 56 dismissals were recorded during the season.
Also in the concluded season, Nasarawa United’s Yusuf Anas topped the scorers chart with 18 goals and was followed by veteran Rabiu Ali of Kano Pillars with 13 goals, and Anthony Ijoma of Abia Warriors came third with 12 goals.
Elegbeleye noted that the NPFL screened a record number of matches on television, with 188 games aired on StarTimes while Propel Sports Africa streamed over 200 fixtures on the OTT viewing platform globally.
