2012 Nigeria Premier League

The 2012 Nigeria Premier League is the 41st season of the competition since its inception, and the 22nd since the rebranding of the league as the "Professional League".

Nigeria Premier League
Season2011–12
ChampionsKano Pillars F.C.
RelegatedNiger Tornadoes, Jigawa Golden Stars, Rising Stars F.C.
Champions LeagueKano Pillars F.C.
Enugu Rangers
Confederation CupLobi Stars
Heartland F.C. (cup winner)
Matches played342
Goals scored687 (2.01 per match)
Top goalscorerSibi Gwar (Niger Tornadoes) - 13
Biggest home winGombe United 5 Sharks F.C. 0 (1 Feb.)
Rangers 5 Jigawa Golden Stars 0 (2 May)
2013 →

Sixteen teams from the previous season and four teams promoted from the Nigeria National League (Akwa United, Rising Stars, Jigawa Golden Stars and Wikki Tourists) are participating in this season.

The season was originally due to start November 26, 2011, less than a month after the conclusion of the previous season due to many long delays by the NFF.[1] The date was pushed back to January 2012 to give time to organize and to sort out the league's sponsorship and scheduled to run to July.[2]

Clubs
Locations of the Nigeria Premier League 2011–12 teams
Team name Home city Home venue First year of current stint in League
ABS Ilorin Kwara State Stadium 2010
Akwa United Uyo Uyo Township Stadium/UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar 2011
Dolphins Port Harcourt Liberation Stadium 2009
Enugu Rangers Enugu Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium 1973
Enyimba Aba Enyimba International Stadium 1994
Gombe United Gombe Pantami Stadium 1994
Heartland Owerri Dan Anyiam Stadium 1975
Jigawa Golden Stars Dutse Hadejia Stadium 2011
Kaduna United Kaduna Kaduna Township Stadium 2008
Kano Pillars Kano Sani Abacha Stadium/Hadejia Stadium 2001
Kwara United Ilorin Kwara State Stadium 2009
Lobi Stars Makurdi Emmanuel Atongo Stadium, Katsina-Ala/Aper Aku Stadium/Old Parade Ground 1999
Niger Tornadoes Minna Minna Township Stadium 2003
Ocean Boys Brass Samson Siasia Stadium 2006
Rising Stars Akure Gateway Stadium (Ijebu Ode)/Akure Township Stadium 2011
Sharks Port Harcourt Sharks Stadium 2008
Shooting Stars Ibadan Awolowo Stadium/MKO Abiola Stadium, Abeokuta 2009
Sunshine Stars Akure Akure Township Stadium 2007
Warri Wolves Warri Warri Township Stadium 2008
Wikki Tourists Bauchi Abubarkar Tafawa Balewa Stadium 2011

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Kano Pillars (C) 36 17 10 9 46 26 +20 61 Qualification for 2013 CAF Champions League
2 Enugu Rangers (Q) 36 17 7 12 45 27 +18 58
3 Lobi Stars (Q) 36 18 3 15 38 30 +8 57 Qualification for 2013 CAF Confederation Cup
4 Enyimba 36 16 6 14 38 30 +8 54
5 Sunshine Stars 36 15 7 14 41 35 +6 52
6 Kwara United 36 16 4 16 35 36 −1 52
7 Sharks 36 16 4 16 43 46 −3 52
8 Heartland (Q) 36 14 9 13 32 30 +2 51[lower-alpha 1] Qualification for 2013 CAF Confederation Cup
9 Gombe United 36 15 6 15 40 45 −5 51
10 Wikki Tourists 36 16 3 17 33 46 −13 51
11 Dolphins 36 15 5 16 37 39 −2 50
12 Akwa United 36 15 5 16 27 31 −4 50
13 Shooting Stars 36 14 7 15 31 34 −3 49
14 Kaduna United 36 15 4 17 37 42 −5 49
15 Warri Wolves 36 13 9 14 32 29 +3 48
16 ABS 36 14 6 16 42 40 +2 48
17 Niger Tornadoes (R) 36 14 6 16 38 42 −4 48 Relegated to Nigeria National League
18 Jigawa Golden Stars (R) 36 14 6 16 29 42 −13 48
19 Rising Stars (R) 36 10 9 17 23 37 −14 39
20 Ocean Boys (D) 0 - - - - - — 0[lower-alpha 2]
Updated to match(es) played on 9 Sept. 2012. Source: Nigeria Premier League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (D) Disqualified; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. Heartland qualified for the 2013 CAF Confederation Cup as the 2012 Nigerian FA Cup winner.
  2. Ocean Boys were disqualified September 6 after no-showing four straight games when their relegation was confirmed. All points/results of games involving them were expunged.

News
  • - In addition to the Kaduna United v Jigawa week 1 game, te entire week 2 schedule was postponed due to the nationwide general strike protesting the removal of the national fuel subsidy.[3]
  • - Two matchday 4 matches were cancelled: SUnshine Stars FC was robbed on the way to their game with Lobi, and Kano Pillars vs Enyimba was postponed after a bombing attributed to Boko Haram. Pillars eventually announced they were moving games to Jigawa's Hadeja Stadium.[4] The league relented and allowed Pillars to play in Kano behind closed doors.
  • - A week 11 match was postponed when Wikki Tourists were robbed on their way to Warri.[5]

Team of the Year

From MTNFootball[6]

Reserves GK: Moses Ocheje (Sunshine Stars) D: ThankGod Ike (Warri Wolves) D/M:Chinedu Efugh (Heartland) M: David Tyavkase (Lobi Stars) M: Abduljaleel Ajagun (Dolphin) F: Dele Olorundare (Sunshine Stars) F: Chikeluba Ofoedu (Rangers)

Managerial (head coach) changes
Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Incoming manager Date of appointment
Enyimba Felix Emordi Resigned End of 2010-11 Season Abdu Maikaba[7] Nov. 26 2011
Shooting Stars Fatai Amoo Resigned[8] End of 2010-11 Season Festus Allen[9] Dec. 30 2011
Enugu Rangers Alphonsus Dike Resigned[10] End of 2010-11 Season Felix Emordi Dec. 23 2011
Wikki Tourists Hassan Abubukar Contract not renewed End of 2010-11 Season Ladan Bosso Dec. 23 2011[11]
Warri Wolves Paul Aigbogun Family reasons[12] Feb. 20, 2012 Maurice Cooreman Feb. 20 2012
Kaduna United Maurice Cooreman Resigned Feb. 20, 2012 Saleh Tanko Lato
ABS Erasmus Onuh Sacked[13] Feb. 27, 2012 Kabiru Suleiman Dogo (interim) Feb. 27, 2012
Shooting Stars Festus Allen Sacked Mar. 26, 2012 Tunde Odubola/Busari Akeem[14] Mar. 26, 2012

References
  1. One month offseason for NPL
  2. "New NPL season begins in January". Archived from the original on 2011-11-17. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  3. "NPL cancels weekend matches over strike". www.dailytrust.com.ng. Archived from the original on 2012-01-14.
  4. "Pillars to play in Hadejia". Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-02-05.
  5. "Armed robbers attack Wikki". Archived from the original on 2012-02-28. Retrieved 2012-02-25.
  6. "NPL Special: All-Star Team of the Season - MTNFootball". Archived from the original on 2012-11-24. Retrieved 2012-09-14.
  7. Enyimba appoint new head coach Abdu Maikaba
  8. "Amoo rejects 3SC offer". Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2011-12-10.
  9. "3SC name ex-Bukola coach Allen new coach". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
  10. Dike quits Enugu Rangers
  11. "Bosso dumps Pillars for Wikki - MTNFootball". Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
  12. Wolves snag Cooreman
  13. ABS throw out Onuh
  14. Shooting Stars fire Allen
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