The Nigeria National League (NNL) has approved sweeping changes to its competition format, including the abolition of the long-standing Super 8 play-off, at its 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the 5th Chukker Resort, Maraban Jos, Kaduna State.
In a communiqué issued after the meeting, the NNL announced that the 2025/2026 season will kick off with a star match on 8 November, while other Week One fixtures will follow on 14–16 November at various venues.
The AGM adopted an abridged league format splitting the competition into four conferences — A, B, C and D — with the top club in each conference gaining automatic promotion to the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL). The Super 8 play-off has been scrapped.
A new Super 4 competition will instead be introduced at the end of the season to decide the overall NNL champion. Any club promoted to the NPFL but failing to participate in the Super 4 will automatically forfeit its promotion to the second-placed team in its conference.
Other key resolutions include:
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Only stadiums that meet NNL facility standards will be approved for the new season.
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All clubs must submit valid insurance cover for players and officials as part of their registration.
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The NNL financial and audited reports for 2024/2025, along with the 2025/2026 budget, were approved as working documents.
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Only Prostar/NNL-branded match balls will be allowed; failure to provide official balls by home teams will attract sanctions.
The meeting also thanked Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani for hosting the AGM and praised Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President Ibrahim Gusau and the NFF Board for their support.
In addition, the AGM applauded ongoing sponsorship efforts and passed a vote of confidence on the NNL Board led by George Aluo for its “achievements so far and resolve to continue to improve the standard of the league.”
