Shehu Dikko, Chairman of League Management Company (LMC), praised the fans of Lagos-based MFM FC on Friday for the sportsmanship they displayed when their club was defeated by the visiting Remo Stars.
According to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), the first match of the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) between home-based MFM FC and Remo Stars ended 2-0 in favor of the visiting Sky Blue Stars.
Both teams played a high-intensity and entertaining match at the newly refurbished Mobolaji Johnson Arena, formerly Onikan Stadium.
Both of the game’s goals were scored in the second half.
Qudus Akanni scored the first goal in the 55th minute after capitalizing on a defensive blunder, and Andy Okpe completed the scoring for the visitors in added time.
After the MFM FC defenders failed to clear their lines, he tapped in a loose ball from the corner.
Although the MFM FC fans were disappointed with the results of the first two games, they remained calm in the face of the boisterous Remo Stars fans who flocked to the stadium to support their team.
Dikko, a special guest, commented on the fair play of the Olukoya Boys fans, saying that such spirit was what the league needed to keep the competition going.
“Fans should continue to do what they want for their teams; we want to see them supporting their clubs properly.”
“Others should follow in the footsteps of MFM FC fans; they lost a game at home, but they kept their cool, with no violence or crowd trouble.”
“This is how football should be played; anyone who claims to love the NPFL and wants it to continue should allow sportsmanship to prevail,” he said.
Dikko, the Nigeria Football Federation’s 2nd Vice Chairman, also revealed that the league would have started earlier but was postponed to allow more sponsors to come on board.
“I am pleased that the league has begun; we had hoped to begin earlier, but we have a lot of plans in the works.” We have a long list of things we want to do.
“At the same time, we recognize that the fans are growing impatient, so we must push ahead and get the league up and running.”
“The first game here was fantastic, but we’re looking for more league improvement to keep it self-sustaining, and that’s part of what we’re trying to do.”
“We want to improve on last season’s league, when we were able to have live broadcasts of the games.” “We were able to put six out of ten matches on air, which is unprecedented,” he said.
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