July 2024

Ahead of the 2024/2025 football league season, the board of the Nigeria National League (NNL) has confirmed the relegation of 12 clubs from the four groups that played in last season’s league to the third tier National League One (NLO).

This is as the board has similarly confirmed the promotion of four clubs from the four groups to the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL).

Recall that the NNL had recently concluded the season with it’s super eight championships game at the Nnamdi Azikiwe stadium in Enugu, where the four clubs, Nasarawa United, Elkanemi Warriors, Beyond Limits and Ikorodu City FC gained promotion to the elite league.

The NNL in a letter to the NFF confirmed the relegation of Stormers FC, Abeokuta, Ekiti United FC of Ado Ekiti and 1472 FC of Lagos from conference A.
The letter which was dated July 13, 2024 also confirmed that FC One Rocket of Uyo, Giant Brillars FC of Enugu and Trade Safe FC of Lagos were relegated from conference B, while NAF FC of Abuja, ABS FC of Ilorin and EFCC FC of Abuja dropped to the NLO from conference C.
Similarly, Mailantarki Care FC of Abuja, Jigawa Golden Stars of Dutse and City FC of Abuja completed the rear for dropped clubs from Conference D.
It was similarly gathered that the NNL has received list of promoted clubs from the NLO, as well as those demoted from the NPFL, that would soon participate in it’s coming Annual General Meeting (AGM) where the twelve clubs, four that suffered relegation from the NPFL and eight that gained promotion from the NLO will be formally received to participate in the 2024/2025 NNL season.
Confirming the promotion and relegation of the clubs, chairman of the NNL, George Aluo, said the board has formally notified the NFF, informing the parent body of the final outcome of the 2023/2024 season.
The veteran journalist added that the board is currently preparing for its Annual General Meeting (AGM), where it will formally receive all the clubs that would participate in the new season.
“To the glory of God the 2023/2024 NNL season ended with giant strides recorded by the board. We have formally notified the NFF of the promotion and relegation of the various clubs that gallantly participated in the league last season.
“Our next program is the Annual General Meeting of the board and clubs, where we will receive the four clubs that dropped from the NPFL and the eight that got promotion from the NLO.
“We are set and have promised Nigerians that we will improve on our last season’s performance. We have raised the standards at NNL and the new season will no doubt be competitive as our performance has propelled many of the clubs that participated in last season to become giant killers in Nigerian football,” Aluo stated.

The leadership of Nigeria National League has frowned at the recent news on the social media that it is projecting to kickoff the 2024/2025 season in October/November.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the league body Emmanuel Attah, the Nigeria National League Board has not told anybody that they are starting the League in October.

“We cannot just stay in the office to decide the kick off date of the League. We need to have the Annual General Meeting of the body where an appraisal of the last season will be done, and approval for the new season shall be effected. We don’t know where the kick off date of October emanated from. To the best of my knowledge we have not fixed any date for the kick off of the NNL, when such happens, we would let everyone know” the former Super Eagles Coordinator said.

Attah who was a former Chairman of FCT Football Association also denied any knowledge of unveiling a sponsor for the league as speculated in the news.“While it is true that we have a whole lot of corporate bodies that have shown interest in the league against the backdrop of the highly successful season that has just finished, we have not gotten to the level of unveiling any yet. When we tidy up any deal we will let Nigerians know,” he said.

It would be noted that the quartet of El Kanemi Warriors, Nasarawa United, Beyond Limits and Ikorodu City got promoted from NNL to the Premier League after the Enugu Super 8.

El Kanemi went ahead after the Enugu outing to emerge champions of the country after beating Abia Warriors in the President Federation Cup final in Lagos.