Elegbeleye Tasks Referees Ahead Of NPFL Season

Gbenga Elegbeleye, Chairman, Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), yesterday called on the Nigeria Referees Association (NRA) to intensify efforts that will ensure the matches of the 2023/2024 league soason were fairly officiated, irrespective of playing turf.

Elegbeleye said this during a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that the body had a lot learning and unlearning to do in order to further reposition the league.

” A good league is characterised by fair officiating among other factors, officiating can make or mar a league, in the last season there were errors here and there, I hope those errors are corrected.

” The teams need to have a modicum of believe in the referees, it’s simple if a player doesn’t trust that a referee will be fair, there’s a problem already,” he said.

Elegbeleye, the newly appointed chairman, applauded GTI Asset Management & Trust Limited for their partnership.

“Our partnership with GTI group has further repositioned the league, now match officials indemnities are paid before the match, which brought about away wins last season.

” Same goes for the teams, they should re-educate their fans so they don’t lose points, marks will be deducted for unruly fan misbehaviour, ” he said.

The 2023/2024 league season is scheduled to kick off in August.