NNL Chairman Aluo impressed with Super 8 proceedings, craves corporate support

Chairman of Nigeria National League (NNL) Mr. George Aluo said he’s impressed with the way the 2025 Super 8 matches presently going on at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba is proceeding.

He told newstap.com.ng that the matches have been highly competitive and that the essence of the Super 8 is being achieved.

” I’m highly impressed with what I’ve seen since the commencement of the Super 8 because all the matches have been very competitive. Teams know that in the regular league, they might come first or second on the league table but have to come to the Super 8 to prove to Nigerians that they merited their positions in their conferences and that’s why it has been very competitive.

According to him, kudos must also go to the referees whose officiating has been top notch which allowed fans to watch quality football .

” I want to commend these young referees for doing a good job. Some of them were picked from those we gave award during the regular season for their high level performance and the only way to reward that level.of performance is to bring them to the Super 8 to prove their mettle again

” So, I want to commend these young men for the wonderful job they’re doing . They’ve done a great job and I want to believe that they’ll continue with that until the final day on July, 12″, he stated

Aluo who said that all the matches kept him at the verge of his seat noted with confidence that teams that will eventually qualify for the NPFL will be good ambassadors of the most important league in the country

” I must confess that all the matches kept me at the verge of my seat. You can see the Osun Utd versus Crown FC game, which was a South/ West derby and it was not over until the very last minute.

” You also saw the Warri Wolves against Kun Khalifat whom so many people thought would be on a roller coaster considering the way they played at the regular season but they couldn’t find their redeem in that game. So, on the whole, it has been a wonderful outing.

” Like I said earlier, it has been a wonderful outing . All the matches were very entertaining and there was no dull moment. You saw the very intensive game between Yobe Desert Stars and Barau who are new comers to the league as well as the one between Wikki Tourists and Doma FC, so on the whole it has been a wonderful tournament.

As to whether the teams that eventually pick ticket to the top flight will be good ambassadors of the NNL, he stated that he doesn’t have doubt about that since according to him, the NNL that’s in place now in the past two years, is an NNL whereby when teams get promoted they’ll be able to compete because from day one, winning mentality has been built on them.

” The first thing we did at the beginning of the league was to take the coaches to the classroom to enable them learn more and then come and exhibit what they learnt during the season.

” You’re aware that all the teams that got promoted from the NNL, remained in the NPFL and in fact Ikorodu City was almost getting continental ticket and that shows you how competitive the league is. And look at Abakiliki FC in the NNL, they got to the finals of the Federation Cup and just missed it by the whiskers.
” Infact, you’ll also agree with me that in the finals, they outplayed Kwara Utd before it got down to penalties which to me is a game of lottery where anybody can win. So, to me all the eight teams merited to be here”, he stressed.

On whether there has been challenges, the journalist turned sports administrators, agreed there has been some challenges but was quick to add that the ability to surmount challenges are the main issue

” The first challenge is that when you’re preaching reform, not everyone will embrace it. But am happy that the clubs are now beginning to culcate the culture and mentality we want them to have and that’s why you now see clubs winning on the road.

” Before now, any club playing at home would want to win at all cost but we’re no more tolerating that in the NNL and the clubs are beginning to imbibe that. It was a challenge before now, but gradually, they’re beginning to see that if they go away and win another team can equally come to their home and get points.

” Few other challenges like making them ensure that matches are streamed live is now being imbibed because I kept on telling them that if you don’t have anything to hide, why should you stop your opponent from streaming your match live because when that’s done thousands of people will be able to watch it in Facebook and Utube.

” Even as I speak to you now, the President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau is in Cairo, Egypt but he watched the games live because the world is now a global village. These are some of the challenges but we’ve been able to bring these reforms and they’re working very well for our league.

Aluo who described the NFF President as the major sponsor of the league used the opportunity to appeal to corporate organizations to partner with NNL so as to further develop the country’s football.

” I must tell you that the biggest sponsor we have is the President of NFF, Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau. He’s a man that believes that you must do the right thing and he wants to reform Nigerian football. It was one of his campaign manifestos that he wants to develop the country’s grassroots football and he’s showing it with the league.

” He has given support not just to NNL but the NPFL, NLO and NWL. If you ask my colleagues in the other leagues, they’ll tell you that he has given us all the support and when your leaders tells you to go and do the right thing, you’re emboldened.

” Now that we’re doing a good job, the corporate world should cone and support us because we can’t be talking of having a beautiful domestic league without corporate support

” We’ ve even said that any corporate body that wants to put in money into the league should take care of referees indemnity and we’ll give them the referees account number to pay money directly to them. So, we’re not even looking for money to put in .our pockets, we are only looking for money to make the league better, So am appealing to corporate organisations to come forward and help us, so that together we can build a better Nigeria.