Nigeria's third tier league is the biggest in Africa - CEO reveals

The Chief Operating Officer, Olushola Ogunnowo of Nigeria's third-tier league, the Nationwide League (NLO), has revealed that the league is the biggest in Africa.

The League will start on Wednesday, May 3rd, with the curtain raiser, a Kano Derby between Kano Pillars Jnr and Kwankwasiya FC at the Sani Abacha Stadium in Kano.

Over 400 teams and academics will battle for Nigeria's second-division league, the Nigeria National League (NNL), at the end of the season.

Ogunnowo asserted this during a press briefing at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere-Lagos.

He said, "The long journey that we started 10 years ago is about the yield multiple dividends. The NLO is the biggest league in Nigeria and indeed Africa, with 450 clubs. No country in the continent comes close to it.

"We have clubs that have been existing for a very long time as community/grassroots teams."

Pulse Sports reports that NLO's media officer, Abdulgafar Oladimeji, emphasized NLO's commitment to ensuring that only players aged 19 and under participated in the league and said that the organization had implemented anti-forgery processes to counteract fraud and corruption tendencies in the licensing process.

He added that NLO has outlined intentions to use new technology to facilitate the work of player agents and scouts.

He concluded that the introduction of the technological scouting device was primarily designed to showcase the skills and talents of young football players in the league to international clubs.