2014 Nigeria Professional Football League

Nigeria Premier League
Champions Kano Pillars
Relegated Nembe City, Crown, Kaduna United, Gombe United
Champions League Kano Pillars, Enyimba International
Confederation Cup Warri Wolves
Matches played 380
Goals scored 836 (2.2 per match)
Top goalscorer Mfon Udoh (Enyimba F.C.)- 23
Biggest home win Gombe United 6, Nembe City 0 (8 May)
Dolphins 6, Nembe City 0 (22 Oct.)
Biggest away win Nembe City 0, Giwa 4 (16 Nov.)
Highest scoring Warri Wolves 7, Crown 1 (22 Oct.)
Longest unbeaten run Sharks F.C. – 10 games (19 April to 1 June)
← 2013
2015 →

The 2014 Nigeria Professional Football League was the 43rd season of the competition since its inception, and the 24th since the rebranding of the league as the "Professional League". The season was scheduled to kick off on November 22, about one month after the conclusion of the 2013 season.[1] However, on that date the league's start was postponed to mid-February until after the 2014 African Nations Championship and to allow the teams to complete all their FIFA licensing.[2] It was delayed again until March.

Clubs

Sixteen teams from the previous season and four teams promoted from the Nigeria National League (Crown F.C., Giwa FC, Taraba F.C. and Abia Warriors F.C.) are participating in this season. With Abia Warriors debuting it means the Abia State derby with Enyimba will feature at the highest level of Nigerian football for the first time.

Team name Home city Home venue First year of current stint in League
Akwa United Uyo Uyo Township Stadium 2011
Bayelsa United F.C. Yenegoa Sapele Stadium/Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium 2012
Dolphins Port Harcourt Liberation Stadium 2009
Gombe United Gombe Pantami Stadium 1994
Heartland Owerri Dan Anyiam Stadium 1975
Kaduna United Kaduna Kaduna Township Stadium 2008
Lobi Stars Makurdi Emmanuel Atongo Stadium, Katsina-Ala/Aper Aku Stadium 1999
Nasarawa United Lafia Lafia Township Stadium 2012
Nembe City F.C. Nembe Krisdera Hotel Stadium, Port Harcourt 2012
Sunshine Stars Akure Akure Township Stadium 2007
El-Kanemi Warriors Maiduguri Pillars Stadium(Kano) 2012
Enugu Rangers Enugu Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium 1973
Enyimba Aba Enyimba International Stadium 1994
Kano Pillars Kano Sani Abacha Stadium/Pillars Stadium 2001
Sharks Port Harcourt Sharks Stadium 2008
Warri Wolves Warri Warri Township Stadium 2008
Abia Warriors F.C. Umuahia Umuahia Township Stadium 2013
Giwa FC Jos Rwang Pam Stadium 2013
Crown F.C. Ogbomosho Lekan Salami Stadium, Ibadan 2013
Taraba F.C. Jalingo Jalingo City Stadium 2013

Table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Kano Pillars (C) 38 19 8 11 57 41 +16 65 Qualification for 2015 CAF Champions League
2 Enyimba (Q) 38 18 10 10 50 27 +23 64
3 Warri Wolves (Q) 38 18 7 13 49 38 +11 61 Qualification for 2015 CAF Confederation Cup
4 Giwa 38 17 9 12 44 34 +10 60
5 Nasarawa United 38 17 8 13 43 37 +6 59
6 Lobi Stars 38 19 2 17 40 46 −6 59
7 Abia Warriors 38 17 7 14 51 40 +11 58
8 Enugu Rangers 38 17 7 14 45 37 +8 58
9 Dolphins 38 15 10 13 45 34 +11 55
10 Heartland 38 14 13 11 36 27 +9 55
11 Sunshine Stars 38 14 12 12 51 47 +4 54
12 Taraba 38 16 5 17 35 41 −6 53
13 Sharks 38 14 10 14 42 39 +3 52
14 El-Kanemi Warriors 38 14 9 15 43 35 +8 51
15 Bayelsa United 38 16 3 19 50 54 −4 51
16 Akwa United 38 14 9 15 27 34 −7 51
17 Gombe United (R) 38 14 8 16 42 41 +1 50 Relegation to Nigeria National League
18 Crown (R) 38 11 6 21 30 56 −26 39
19 Kaduna United (R) 38 11 5 22 33 55 −22 38
20 Nembe City (R) 38 6 10 22 23 73 −50 28

Updated to games played on 5 Nov. 2014.
Source: http://www.lmc-ng.org/index.php/league-table
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

News

  • - On February 21, Sunshine Stars F.C. was involved in an accident on the road between Ijebu-Ode and Akure. Five players and the team masseur went to the hospital with serious injuries. However, nobody was killed.[3]
  • - On the eve of the league start, Giwa F.C. and Nembe City (the last two Nigeria National League champions and the league's only two privately funded clubs) were withdrawn from league fixtures by the LMC for failing to provide guarantees of the minimum salary for players, leaving the league at 18 teams.[4] Both teams appealed to be reinstated on March 20. Giwa was admitted back on the 2nd of April and Nembe City was readmitted the next day.[5][6]
  • - After the Week 1 games, Abia Warriors refused to travel to Maiduguri to play El-Kanemi Warriors, citing fears for safety after recent Boko Haram attacks. The league then refused to sanction games there, and El Kanemi nominally agreed to move games this season to Kano.[7]
  • - The Week 26 fixtures were suspended when the Nigeria Referees Association went on strike.[8] The league resumed 17 September.

Managerial (head coach) changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming manager Date of appointment
Nasarawa United Kadiri Ikhana Retired[9] 20 Oct. 2013(preseason) Mohammed Baba Ganaru 22 Nov. 2013
Enugu Rangers Felix Emordi Resigned[10] 21 Oct. 2013 John Obuh 28 Oct. 2013[11]
Akwa United Justin Tenger Contract expired[12] 1 Nov. 2013 Emmanuel King 10 Dec. 2013[13]
Kano Pillars Mohammed Baba Ganaru Resigned to take over Nasarawa United[14] 22 Nov. 2013 Felix Emordi 30 Jan. 2014[15]
Bayelsa United Ladan Bosso Resigned to take over Abia Warriors[16] 21 February 2014 Richard Bubagha 28 Feb. 2014[17]
Giwa FC Abdul Bidemi Biffo Resigned [18] 13 April Aminu Musa(Interim)/Kadiri Ikhana[19] 14 April/25 May
Kaduna United Saleh Lato Deceased 20 April Hassan Abubakar 27 April [20]
Giwa FC Kadiri Ikhana Resigned to take Enyimba job [21] 1 July Duke Udi[22] 1 July
Enyimba Zachary Baraje Fired 1 July Kadiri Ikhana[23] 1 July
Gombe United Maurice Cooreman Resigned- Illness July Augustine Eguavoen 9 July[24]

Top scorers

23 goals

References

  1. ↑ "New Nigeria league season kicks off Nov 22". Archived from the original on 2013-10-09. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
  2. ↑ Nigeria football league postponed indefinitely
  3. ↑ "We're lucky to be alive - Sunshine player". Archived from the original on 2014-03-02. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  4. ↑ Giwa, Nembe City thrown out of NPFL (supersport.com)
  5. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140402/Giwa_FC_readmitted_into_NPFL
  6. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140403/Nembe_City_return_to_NPFL
  7. ↑ "{title}". Archived from the original on 2014-03-16. Retrieved 2014-03-15.
  8. ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/4093/nigeria/2014/08/28/5066504/nigeria-league-games-suspended
  9. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/131101/No_change_of_heart_for_Ikhana
  10. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/131021/Emordi_quits_Enugu_Rangers
  11. ↑ "Rangers task new coach Obuh". Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2013-10-29.
  12. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/131102/Tenger_quits_Akwa_Utd
  13. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/131210/King_happy_with_Akwa_job
  14. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/131123/Nasarawa_Utd_hook_Ganaru
  15. ↑ "Pillars appoint coach Okey Emordi". Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
  16. ↑ "Bosso Joins Abia Warriors After No Bayelsa Deal". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
  17. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140226/Bayelsa_Utd_return_to_continental_action
  18. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria-naija/news/140414/Biffo_quits_Giwa_FC
  19. ↑ http://nigerianfootballleague.com/ikhana-will-bring-experience-bear-giwa-fc/
  20. ↑ http://www.nigeriafootball.com/article,4695,Abubakar-appointed-as-Kaduna-United-Technical-Adviser
  21. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria-naija/news/140414/Biffo_quits_Giwa_FC
  22. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-07-05. Retrieved 2014-07-05.
  23. ↑ http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/4111/nigeria-premier-league/2014/07/02/4930235/ikhana-why-i-joined-enyimba
  24. ↑ http://www.supersport.com/football/nigeria/news/140709/Gideon_savoring_Eguavoens_partnership
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