NPFL Chairman Dissatisfied with Nigerian Clubs' Continental Performance, Blames Financial Issues and Player Retention

Following a series of poor performances by Nigerian clubs on the continent over the years, the Chairman of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), Gbenga Elegbeleye, has expressed his dissatisfaction with the poor run. To him, finance contributes majorly to this occurrence, and wish Nigerian clubs do all they can to keep their players.
It will be recalled that Kwara United, Abia Warriors and league champions, Remo Stars, were eliminated from the preliminary rounds of the CAF competitions. However, Rivers United qualified to the group stage of the CAF Champions League. According to the chairman, the club will pocket 1.3 billion Naira for just making it to the group stage.

“Mamelodi Sundowns for example have players, who have been with them for six , seven seasons and are still willing to remain at the club majorly because of the salary they are getting,” he said.
“The league managers (NPFL) cannot manage the clubs. So, if the clubs keep their best players things will get better. Rivers United have majority of their players from the last two, three seasons with them, and we are all seeing the result.
”If our clubs can stop selling their best legs at the end of each season, there will be remarkable progress in terms of competing with other clubs from other countries in CAF competitions.
“Just imagine, Rivers United have qualified for the group stage of the CAF Champions League, what they will pocket for qualifying alone is about N1.3b, that’s massive.
”If clubs can take this into consideration, lt will help them massively. Let’s manage ourselves, let’s manage our players to reach that stage. Imagine a Nigerian club going to the FIFA Club World Cup.”