The Nigeria Premier League (NPL) which will kick off on January 7 is expected to end on July 15, officials have announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope to go strictly with these dates and that is why we are asking for the co-operation of everyone involved especially the clubs,\u201d executive secretary of the NPL Tunji Babalola told MTNFootball.com<\/p>\n
A complete fixture list of the 2011\/12 season shows that the teams will play mid-week matches to make up for lost time after the season began far behind schedule.<\/p>\n
The second transfer window in the league will be between February 29 and March 3 after Week 11 matches.<\/p>\n
On February 29, an NPL All-Stars team will take on the league leaders in a special match.<\/p>\n
The first round of the season is slated to end on April 8, while another special match between the NPL All-Stars and league leaders at that time will be staged on 11.<\/p>\n
This will also provide the last transfer window before the second round of the championship resumes on April 14.<\/p>\n
Dolphin of Port Harcourt are the defending champions and they open the new term on January 7 against last season\u2019s runners-up Sunshine Stars of Akure.<\/p>\n
The four promoted teams are Rising Stars, Akwa United, Jigawa Golden Stars and Wikki Tourists.<\/p>\n
The official fixtures also confirmed an MTNFootball.com exclusive that Bukola Babes will now be known as ABS FC following the formal takeover of the club by senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Nigeria Premier League (NPL) which will kick off on January 7 is expected to end on July 15, officials have announced. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n