Nigeria Beach Soccer League poised on virile coverage after media parley ahead of 2025 season

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

With few days to the kick-off of the 2025 Nigeria Beach Soccer League, the organizers of the fifth edition of the league met with media representatives at a virtual parley on Tuesday.

The parley aimed to brief media personnel on preparation for the season, expectations, and getting feedback from members of the press to boost media coverage of the league.

Maxwell Lawrence who represented Eagles 7 FM raised worries about beach soccer not having much foothold in south West compared to other parts of the country.

The coordinator of the league, who is also the President of the African Beach Soccer Union, Mahmud Hadejia, said it is a question of invitation from the state as the game can’t be everywhere.

He noted that the league is eager to have Lagos and other south West sates participate especially hoping for the return of Copa Lagos tournament.

He flashback to when Lagos had lots of beach soccer teams in the league while confident that the teams return to the league.

He posited that the likes of Anambra Beach Soccer Warriors hosted the league for the first time last season while Jigawa Golden Star BSC also made their debut stating that the league has reached out to some clubs in the Nigeria Premier Football League and Nigeria National League with the hope of having their teams take part in the league.

Dilichukwu representing Anambra Beach Soccer Warriors media asked about expectations for the season and challenge.

Hadejia reiterated the fact that the league will kick off in Kebbi State with Round 1 taking place from March 31 to April 3.

This will be followed by Round 2 in Kaduna state in June while the regular season conclude in Anambra state in August.

The Super Finals is scheduled for Akwa Ibom state in December 2025.

On challenges, Hadejia affirmed that getting key sponsors and finances for the league is the major challenges.

Nonso Arinzechi asked about the number of teams which will participate in the league this season alongside ways of blending upcoming and FIFA badges beach soccer referees in the league.

The Coordinator said that it gives him joy that one of the prominent league referee, Noah Adejoh recently got his FIFA badge and is one of he best in the NPFL. He assured that more young and agile referees will feature in the league and learn from the wealth of experience from the FIFA badged ones.

Samuel Frederick from SuperSports suggested having the league get partners that can help teams with transportation to the league venues in which Hadejia said that can be made possible if the league get transportation company as partners while assuring that the league has been and will continue to support teams with accomodations at centres coupled with cash and incentives using last season’s Super Finals as an example.

The league head of media, Nasir Auwal intimated the house about efforts aimed at improving previous seasons successes like multiple live streaming of games with multiple camera angles amongst other plans.

Sean Pablo welcomed the idea of having multiple streaming and camera angles while advising the league to provide commentators with detailed data and statistics to guide them during games as acknowledged by Nasir.

The President of Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), Isiaha Benjamin was honored to be recognized at the parley. He wished the house a fruitful deliberation and successful 2025 season.

The NBSL has continued to organize virtual media parley with members of the press ahead of the commencement of every season since inception in 2021.

The 2025 season is the fifth edition and expected to improve from previous successes with virile media coverage.