The 2024-2025 NPFL Nigeria Premier Football League kicked off on August 31 as Defending champions, Rangers played 0-0 against newly promoted El Kanemi Warriors.
Apart from being a season opener, the game witnessed innovations in officiating.
Sportsintel will go through the new rules for the 2024-25 NPFL season.
Communication Gadgets For 2024-25 NPFL
At the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu officially unveiled the Communication Gadgets for use in the 2024-2025 NPFL.
Earlier in the Preseason seminar for the Assessors NFF president, Gusau said it is part of the federation’s project to better refereeing with the latest technical equipment in officiating.
Nigeria Whistlers revealed that the match officials in the Rangers International Vs Elkanemi Warriors of Maiduguri game used the equipment to herald the innovation in Nigeria’s refereeing system.
Adjustment In Offside Rules
The Chairman of Nigeria Football Federation’s Referees Development Committee, Mrs Faith Irabor, has promised improved officiating at the 2024-2025 NPFL.
Irabor gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on the sidelines of the Cooper test and training for referees, on Thursday in Abuja at the Moshood Abiola stadium.
She said that the changes in officiating would be in the areas of off-side and handball.
“It is only a deliberate handball that will be penalized. This is because if the ball hits the hand that is in its natural position, it means no foul.
“If you watched the European Championship, you will discover that the referees did not punish players for handballs that were not deliberate.
“So the training, among others is to educate the referees that when the hand is in its natural position and the ball hits it, the rule of the game has not been violated,”
Referees Welfare
There has been an increase of 100 percent in referees’ indemnities unlike before.
Irabor said that this year’s Cooper test and training were holistic because management of the clubs that will participate in this year’s league was also part of the training.
She said the essence of training both the club management and the referees was to ensure that nobody violated the laws of the game.
Meanwhile, the chairman maintained that punishments would be meted out to violators of the laws of the game.
NAN reports that 250 referees participated in the exercise, with about 20 percent dropping out.
