NPFL fixes August 27–29 for 2026/27 season kick-off

The Nigeria Premier Football League has tentatively scheduled the start of the 2026/27 season for the weekend of August 27 to 29 following a joint stakeholders’ meeting involving the National Sports Commission, the Nigeria Football Federation, the NPFL and club owners in Abuja.

Under the approved football calendar, the new campaign will run until May 28, 2027, with the schedule also accommodating fixtures for the President Federation Cup as organisers aim to maintain a more structured domestic football calendar.

The 2026/27 season will also introduce a major financial boost after the Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Shehu Dikko, announced that the league champions will receive a record N1 billion in prize money, the highest winner’s reward in the history of Nigerian club football.

The increased prize money forms part of wider reforms designed to enhance the league’s commercial appeal, improve its competitiveness and attract greater investment into domestic football.

The new season will feature four newly promoted clubs from the Nigeria National League. Sporting Lagos, Inter Lagos, Ranchers Bees and Doma United secured promotion after the conclusion of the 2025/26 NNL season and will replace the four teams relegated from the NPFL.

The promoted clubs will compete alongside defending champions Enugu Rangers, who claimed their ninth league title after finishing top of the table at the end of the 2025/26 season.