Confusion Hits NNL As the League Kicks off This Weekend

Confusion Hits NNL As the League Kicks off This Weekend. ....Forty Teams will participate this season.. Katken ...No, it is thirty eight teams... Secretary By Niyi Busari After the kick off date of the 2017/18 Bet9ja Nigerian National League, NNL has been shifted on two different occassions, it is now certain that it will commence this week as all parties concerned are ready to play their parts in kick starting the first game of the season this weekend. As preparation to start the 2017/18 Bet9ja Nigeria National League this weekend is in top gear at the its secretariat, it is unfortunate that there are controversies regarding the number of the clubs that registered for the season. While the Chief Operating Officer of the NNL, Mr Lawrence Katken disclosed to BSN Sports correspondent that forty clubs have registered for the 2017/18 Bet9ja NNL season. The secretary of the NNL, Mrs Naomi on the other hand, could not provide the complete number of the additional eight clubs to the already registered 32 clubs to complete the forty registered team when our correspondents visited the office on Monday 23rd April 2018 at the Package B National stadium Abuja. Mr Katken directed BSN correspondent to the secretary for the list of the forty teams. The secretary, Mrs Naomi could only provide thirty eight (38) teams instead forty registered clubs. She looks embarrased, confused and unsettled as the list actually contains thirty eight teams and her efforts to provide the other two clubs proves abortive. After her inability to successfully provide the list of the forty clubs she began to mark the newly added clubs that suppose to be eight teams, but can only get five clubs. The five clubs are: Kada FC of Kaduna, Malunfashi FC of Katsina state, Bimo FC Abuja, Real stars also from Kaduna and Stationery Stores of Lagos. The above listed five (5) clubs will join the twelve (12) teams that ended last season in the NNL in the Northern conference, fourteen clubs from Southern conference, four clubs that were relegated from the NPFL and eight promoted teams from NLO 1. To be sure and search for the missing clubs, she started calculating by putting the number of clubs that were promoted from the Nationwide League One, NLO 1, alongside journalists thus, last season, twenty six teams played in the Nigerian National League where we have twelve from the Northern Conference and Fourteen from Eight teams were promoted from the NLO One join the thirty teams and the numbers becomes 38 teams as against 40 the Chief Operating Officer was quoted as saying.