Sporting Lagos Begins Life In NPFL Today

At 4 p.m. later today, October 2, 2023, Sporting Lagos will play their first ever Nigeria Premier Footballer League (NPFL) game.

At the said time, Sporting Lagos will host Gombe United at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena in Onika, Lagos.

Recall that Sporting Lagos gained promotion to the NPFL from the Nigeria National League at the end of the 2022-2023 season and their debut was delayed for almost a month due to a shift in the commencement of the new season.

The privately run club which is based in Lagos, played just two seasons in the lower divisions of Nigerian football before they gained promotion to the elite division.

The squad, under the leadership of former Warri Wolves assistant coach Paul Offor, has had a busy preseason, adding new players including Junior Lokosa, who was the previous NPFL top scorer.

The team won the Naija Super 8 off-season competition, defeating Remo Stars in the final of the tournament on penalties. They also triumphed over Akwa United and Enyimba during the competition.

Sporting Lagos which was founded in 2022 is the first Lagos-based club since the defunct MFM FC in the 2021-2022 season to compete in the NPFL.

The club is owned by a young Nigerian entrepreneur, Shola Akinlade who is a software engineer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of Paystack, the company that was acquired by Stripe in 2020 for $200 million.

The chairman of Sporting Lagos is veteran Nigerian sports journalist and football administrator, Godwin Enakhena.