The 2019

Nigeria Women Premier League The NWFL Premiership (formerly Nigeria Women Premier League) is the top-level league for women's association football in Nigeria. It is the women's equivalent of the men's league, the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL). The Nigeria Wome ...

began July 24, 2019. The league was earlier scheduled to start in February, but due to logistic reasons and commencement of other competitions, it was postponed to March, May then later July. Prior to the start of the league, a congress was held in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

on June 27, with representatives from

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's football governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football team in 1949. It joined CAF in 1959 and FIF ...

. Due to failure of some teams to pay their indemnities, the agreed date at the congress was shifted from July 17 to July 24. At the end of the 2018 Nigeria Women Premier League, Pelican Stars and Sure Babes were relegated to the lower division while Dream Stars Ladies and Invincible Angels gained promotion to the League.

Bayelsa Queens Bayelsa Queens is a Nigerian women football club based in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. They play in the highest pyramid of women football in Nigeria. They have won three championships in the Nigeria Women Premier League in the year 2004, 2 ...

returns as defending champions, while Kaduna Queens bought the slot of Jokodolu Babes to compete in the elite division. At the end of the regular season,

Confluence Queens Confluence Queens F.C. sometimes referred to as Wada Queens and Kogi Confluence Queens is a Nigerian women's association football club based in Lokoja, Kogi State. They play their home games at Confluence Stadium, and compete in the Nigeria Wo ...

, Rivers Angels and Adamawa Queens topped their group, thereby qualifying for the super 4 competition to determine the overall winner of the league, while

Osun Babes Osun Babes F.C. (formerly Comfort Queens F.C. and Oyinlola Queens F.C.) is a football club based in Osogbo, Osun State. It was founded in 1995 under the military rule of Anthony Udofia. They participate in the elite division of female football lea ...

, Dream Stars Ladies, Kaduna Queens and Invincible Angels proceed to relegation playoffs.

Format

For the 2019 season, an abridged league format of four groups was adopted with four teams in each group. The top team in each of the four groups will play a super four mini-tournament at the end of the league to determine the overall winner of the league. The last placed team in each group will engage in a playoff to determine the two teams that will be relegated to the lower division.

Major transfers

The league saw the arrival of two Gambian internationals, Penda Bah and Isatou Jallow joining Rivers Angels and Dream Stars Ladies (with Jallow later joining Angels) respectively. Other major transfers included the arrival of 2018 second top scorer, Anjor Major to league winners,

Rofiat Sule Rafiat Folakemi Sule (born 3 August 2000), is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward at club level for the Bari-based A.S.D. Pink Sport Time, in Italian Serie A. She previously donned the colours of Rivers Angels, and was top ...

, who was the top scorer during the 2016 and 2017 season also moved from Rivers Angels to

in a deal that is considered as the biggest in the history of Nigerian women club football. In August 2019, former captain of

Ghana women's national under-20 football team Ghana women's national under-20 football team represents Ghana in international youth football competitions. Fixtures and results ; Legend 2022 Head coaches * Kuuku Dadzie (November 2009 – October 2011) * Robert Sackey (2011–201 ...

, Grace Adams signed a year deal with Rivers Angels from a team in the United States.

Non-Nigerian players during 2019 season

Finals table

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Play-off stages

Relegation play-offs

* '' Kaduna Queens and Invincible Angels were relegated to the Pro-league.''

Super 4

Semi-finals

* ''

and Rivers Angels qualified to the

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

.''

Third place match

Final

Nigeria Women Pro-league play-offs

Four teams qualified for the promotion playoffs; Olori Babes, Pelican Stars, Police Female Machine, Moje Queens. The four teams would play each other once in a round robin tournament, the two highest ranked teams shall be promoted to the 2020 Nigeria Women Premier League. All matches were played at the Confluence Stadium in

Lokoja Lokoja is a city in Nigeria. It lies at the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers and is the capital city of Kogi State. While the Yoruba (Oworo), Bassa Nge and Nupe are indigenous to the area, other ethnic groups of Nigeria, including the ...

. Round 1 Round 2 Round 3

References

{{reflist

External links

Nigeria 2019
at RSSF Nigeria Women Premier League seasons N Wom N Wom