Renowned financial investment banking firm and strategic partners to the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), GTI Group has expressed delight with the gradual return of football fans to match venues during match days. The ongoing 2023/2024 football season in the country is witnessing large turnout of spectators in major cities like Kano, Gombe, Jos, Akure, Enugu, Aba, Ibadan and Lagos where some of these clubsides are based and this has given a boost to the elite league.
Reacting to this positive development, GTI’s Head of Media and Publicity, Andrew Ekejiuba, said that this has reaffirmed the conviction among football stakeholders in the country that the strategic efforts of GTI in collaboration with Hon Gbenga Elegbeleye-led NPFL Board is now beginning to yield fruits. He added that the blend of quality football as seen in the elite league with massive followership at match venues by fans will help rekindle the spirit of the past glorious years of NPFL and attract more sponsors.
Ekejiuba further added that managers of NPFL clubs must now be more proactive in managing crowd control during league games and ensure that the gains so far achieved with the league are sustained.
“For a league to be successful, it requires the collective efforts of all stakeholders working towards the overall development. In view of the current trend at match venues, the focus of club owners or their managers should be on crowd control. NPFL is moving from a stage of low turnout of spectators to a new stage of massive turnout of fans on match days, and this phase must be managed well.
“Therefore, club managers must be more professional and responsive to the conduct of their teams and fans during league matches so as not to erode the gains so far made with the elite league,” he concluded.