NPFL Sets August Kick-off Date For 2026/2027 Season

The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has pencilled in the weekend of August 27 to 29 for the start of the 2026/27 season 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 NPFL campaign will run until May 28, 2027. The schedule also accommodates fixtures for the President Federation Cup as organisers push for a more orderly and predictable domestic football programme.

Naija News reports that the new season will also mark a financial milestone for Nigerian club football. National Sports Commission chairman Shehu Dikko announced that the league champions will earn a record ₦1 billion in prize money, the biggest title reward in the history of the country’s top-flight league.

The increased prize fund forms part of wider reforms designed to strengthen the commercial appeal of the NPFL, improve competition and attract fresh investment into the domestic game.

Four clubs will make their return or debut in the top division after winning promotion from the Nigeria National League. Sporting Lagos, Inter Lagos, Ranchers Bees and Doma United sealed promotion at the end of the 2025/26 campaign and will replace the four relegated sides.

They will join defending champions Enugu Rangers, who lifted their ninth NPFL title after finishing top of the table at the end of the 2025/26 season.