COVID-19: Rise in cases may stall NPFL resumption

The League Management Company may delay the start of the Nigerian Professional Football League season due to the spike in new coronavirus cases in the country, The PUNCH has learnt.

The league was last played in March, after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

A club chairman, who spoke to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said the LMC officials were monitoring the situation, but would only sanction the commencement of the league when it is safe to do so.

“There are new recorded (COVID-19) cases now and the LMC won’t want to risk the lives of players and officials. A lot of issues need to be ironed out before the league can start and that can happen until maybe January or February,” our source said.

The Nigeria Centre For Disease Control registered 758 new infections of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total confirmed cases to 74,132 in the country.

It was also revealed that the new infections were from 18 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The FCT has 305 cases, while Lagos, Kaduna and Bauchi reported 152, 103 and 44 cases respectively.

Other states with new infections are Gombe-35, Plateau-31, Rivers-17, Sokoto-15, Kwara-13, Kano-9, Ebonyi-8, Ogun-5, Osun-5, Oyo-4, Edo-4, Anambra-4, Bayelsa-2, Ekiti-1 and Taraba-1. Punch