NPFL to Start in August with Record ₦1bn Prize for Champions

The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) will kick off in late August. Officials have tentatively set the weekend of 27, 29 August as the start date for the 2026/27 season.

The proposed start date was decided at a meeting in Abuja. This meeting included the National Sports Commission (NSC), the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), NPFL leaders, and club owners. They are all working hard for the upcoming season.

The approved football calendar shows that the 2026/27 season will run until 28 May 2027. The schedule also includes matches for the President’s Federation Cup. This plan aims to make the domestic football calendar more organized.

This new season is expected to bring significant financial changes for Nigerian club football. Shehu Dikko, the chairman of the National Sports Commission, announced that the winners of the 2026/27 NPFL title will get a record N1 billion in prize money. This is the highest champions’ prize ever offered in the history of Nigeria’s top football league.

This big prize is part of major changes aimed at making the NPFL more appealing. The goal is to increase the league’s competitiveness and bring in more private investment into Nigerian football.

The new season will also see four new teams joining the league. This comes after the 2025/26 Nigeria National League season ended. Sporting Lagos, Inter Lagos, Ranchers Bees, and Doma United have all earned promotion to the top division. They will take the places of the four clubs that were relegated after the last NPFL season.

These new teams will compete against defending champions Enugu Rangers. Rangers enter this season as the team to beat. They won their record-extending ninth league title by finishing at the top of the table in the 2025/26 season.