NPFL: Adedoyin Ogungbefun talks up Remo Stars chances with abridged format

By Oyediji Oluwaseun

Ahead of Remo Stars opening league game against El-Kanemi Warriors on Sunday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the team, Adedoyin Ogungbefun insists the team is not strange to abridged league format.

The Daniel Ogunmodede side will welcome the Borno based side to Remo Stars Stadium on Sunday in both sides season opener and the football administrator opened up on the advantages of an abridged league.

“We have played abridged NNL and not strange to it. The only thing there is the fact that it shows the strength of the team in a fast way than the long stretch,” Ogungbefun told Nigeriafootball.ng.

“In the long stretch if you have a bad performance in the first stanza you can easily use the second stanza to replan. Now it’s shorter with 18 games. There are quick starters and late starters. That’s what abridged league separates.”

Remo Stars last season under the tutelage of Gbenga Ogunbote qualified for the CAF Confederation Cup for the first time in the club’s history, having finished third at the end of the 2021/2022 league campaign.

“The boys have been in camp since August. It has been an intense preparation without anticipating an abridged league. With the preparation we have put in place, I am very sure that we are going to scale through and come out with a continental ticket,” he continued.

“I am someone who tries to be realistic. It’s not realistic to have a straight league this season. We can use this as a kind of force majeure to set our league calendar in an appropriate way.

“Let this season being an abridged league finish on time then we start with every other league all over the world. That should be a challenge for us even with this abridged league. If we don’t achieve it with this abridged league, then it’s not worth it.”

Remo Stars will face Nasarawa United, Plateau United, El-Kanemi Warriors, Gombe United, Shooting Stars, Enyimba FC, Akwa United, Kwara United, and Bendel Insurance in Group A of the 2022/2023 Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) season.