After seven months of lockdown, the Nigerian domestic football may roar back to life as the restriction imposed on contact sports, especially football has been lifted by the Nigerian government.
In a tweet released on Thursday evening, Nigerian minister in charge of sports, Sunday Dare reported that the ban imposed on football by the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19 has been lifted.
The body in charge of the Nigerian lead football league, the League Management Company (LMC) had on 18 March issued a press statement announcing the suspension of the league owing to the global outbreak of coronavirus.
That was after some clubs had honoured the Matchday 25 fixtures. In his tweet on Thursday evening, the minister wrote:
“We welcome the lifting of D ban on football by the PTF. “The lifting of restriction on outdoor activities including football is in line with earlier consultations with Ministry of Youth and Sports and NCDC. However, this is limited to the actual sports itself & not mass gathering.”
In essence, the football matches, as is done in Europe at the moment, will be played without crowd. Nigeria is expected to host Sierra Leone next month in matchday 3 of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series.
The match will most likely be played behind close doors.
