NPFL: IMC Insists On Clearing Rivers United’s Backlog Of Games

The Nigeria Professional Football League’s interim management team claims that sufficient plans have been made to accommodate Rivers United and their backlog of games.

Rivers United have three NPFL games in hand as a result of their participation in this year’s CAF Confederation Cup. They are expected to play their three additional games in the final weeks of the abridged 2022–2023 season.

Rivers will face Sunshine Stars, Wikki Tourists, and Doma United in their final three league games.

Recall that Young Africans of Tanzania eliminated Rivers United from the CAF Confederation Cup 2-0 on aggregate.

Due to their travel obligations for the second leg against the Young Africans, they were forced to postpone their eagerly awaited Federation Cup round 64 meeting against Enyimba last Wednesday.

When they return from Tanzania on Tuesday, May 2, the team will have four critical domestic games left to play in the regular season.

The Super-six playoffs could take place in Lagos from May 20 to May 28 as the abridged NPFL season is expected to end on May 14. The Super Six will produce the league champions and three continental representatives.

On Tuesday, the IMC’s Head of Operations, Davison Owumi, said the games that were postponed in Group B so that Rivers United could concentrate on their continental duties, will take place before the end of the season.

As a result, the Group A matches on Match Day 18 would go as planned, and the last Group B matches would end concurrently on a date to be announced.

“Our fixtures fidelity has been proven from the kickoff and we are working to accommodate Rivers United’s outstanding games to ensure the season is concluded with minimal blip”, Owumi said.

“After the match-day 17, Group B matches would be paused to allow Rivers United to complete their backlog and we hope to accomplish this within the month”.

Their highly anticipated Federation Cup round 64 games against Enyimba has been rescheduled for Thursday, May 4. The date of their prospective round 32 encounters against Plateau United will be announced later.