2016 Nigeria Professional Football League

The 2016 Nigeria Professional Football League (referred to as the Nigerian Glo premier league for sponsorship reasons) is the 45th season of the Nigeria Premier League, the top Nigerian professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1972, and the 26th since the rebranding of the league as the "Professional League".

Nigeria Premier League

Season	2016
Champions	Enugu RangersGUI
Relegated	Giwa Heartland Ikorodu United Warri Wolves
Champions League	Enugu Rangers Rivers United
Confederation Cup	Wikki Tourist
Matches played	342
Goals scored	734 (2.15 per match)
Top goalscorer	Godwin Obaje (18)
Biggest home win	Kano Pillars 6-0 Shooting Stars (24 April 2016)
Biggest away win	El Kanemi Warriors 1-3 Akwa United (30 March 2016)
Highest scoring	3 matches Kano Pillars 6-0 Shooting Stars (24 April 2016) Akwa United 3-3 Sunshine Stars (8 June 2016) Nasarawa United 4-2 Ifeanyi Uba (12 June 2016)
Longest winning run	Plateau United Wikki Tourist (4)
Longest unbeaten run	Abia Warriors (10)
Longest winless run	Ikorodu United (10)
Longest losing run	Ikorodu United (5)
Highest attendance	40,000 El Kanemi at Rangers International
Average attendance	8,600
← 2015 2017 → All statistics correct as of 2 October 2016.

Enugu Rangers won their seventh league title and first since 1984. Giwa, Heartland, Ikorodu United and Warri Wolves finished as the bottom four teams in the standings and will be relegated to Nigeria National League for the 2017 season.

Clubs

A total of 20 teams will contest the league including 16 teams from the previous season and four teams promoted from the Nigeria National League. The four promoted teams replace Bayelsa United, Kwara United, Sharks and Taraba who were all relegated to the National League at the end of the previous season

Kano

Rivers

Sunshine

Wolves

Enugu

Enyimba

Heartland

Tornadoes

Shooting

Akwa

Wikki

Lobi

Ikorodu

MFM

Nasarawa

El Kanemi

Ifeanyi

Giwa

Plateau

Abia

Locations of the Nigeria Premier League 2015 teams

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Enugu Rangers (C)	36	18	9	9	53	37	+16	63	Qualification to the 2017 CAF Champions League
2	Rivers United	36	19	3	14	38	29	+9	60
3	Wikki Tourist	36	16	9	11	45	28	+17	57	Qualification to the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup
4	Ifeanyi Uba	36	16	8	12	37	33	+4	56
5	Lobi Stars	36	16	7	13	41	35	+6	55
6	Sunshine Stars	36	14	11	11	44	37	+7	53
7	Kano Pillars	36	15	7	14	47	40	+7	52
8	El Kanemi Warriors	36	16	3	17	37	40	−3	51
9	Enyimba	36	14	8	14	34	35	−1	50
10	Nasarawa United	36	16	2	18	41	43	−2	50
11	Niger Tornadoes	36	15	4	17	40	42	−2	49
12	Plateau United	36	13	10	13	34	37	−3	49
13	Abia Warriors	36	12	12	12	35	39	−4	48
14	Akwa United	36	13	8	15	45	46	−1	47
15	Shooting Stars	36	14	5	17	41	48	−7	47
16	MFM	36	12	9	15	36	40	−4	45
17	Warri Wolves (R)	36	12	9	15	29	38	−9	45	Relegation to the Nigeria National League
18	Heartland (R)	36	11	11	14	25	30	−5	44
19	Ikorodu United (R)	36	7	11	18	32	55	−23	32
20	Giwa[a] (R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Updated to match(es) played on 2 October 2016. Source: Standings
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Giwa was expelled from the league following Week 18 after failing to honor three consecutive home matches. All matches involving Giwa, played and unplayed, were suspended.^[1]

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38
Enugu Rangers	14	14	8	5	1	2	1	1	1	2	1	2	1	3	3	5	1	1	3	4	2	3	3	2	2	2	1	2	1	1	2	3	4	1	2	1	1	1
Rivers United	4	8	3	9	5	7	12	10	6	5	8	5	7	7	5	1	6	2	1	2	3	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	1	2	1	2	1	2	2	2
Wikki Tourist	4	5	9	4	7	11	6	8	8	3	6	9	6	8	7	9	3	4	4	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1	2	2	3	1	2	3	4	3	4	3
Ifeanyi Uba	4	6	12	7	8	4	5	3	5	1	2	1	3	4	6	4	8	8	11	11	12	13	11	10	12	11	10	8	8	10	7	5	3	4	3	4	3	4
Lobi Stars	4	2	4	1	4	5	7	3	4	7	9	7	5	5	4	6	5	6	5	8	5	6	8	9	8	8	6	7	5	6	5	7	8	5	6	5	6	5
Sunshine Stars	8	15	16	18	19	19	19	20	17	18	18	13	17	15	15	12	13	10	6	6	8	5	5	5	6	6	7	6	9	4	4	4	5	8	5	7	5	6
Kano Pillars	1	4	2	3	2	3	3	5	2	9	5	8	4	1	1	2	4	5	2	3	4	4	4	4	5	4	5	4	4	5	8	6	7	7	9	6	7	7
El Kanemi Warriors	17	15	16	19	16	17	16	16	11	14	11	17	14	16	18	17	17	17	17	12	14	11	14	11	14	9	13	13	16	12	13	12	13	12	10	10	8	8
Enyimba	17	18	19	14	18	18	18	17	18	17	17	19	19	18	11	13	10	11	8	5	6	7	9	6	4	5	4	5	6	7	9	10	9	6	7	8	10	9
Nasarawa United	14	17	18	20	20	20	20	19	20	19	19	18	15	14	16	15	15	13	15	15	15	15	15	14	10	12	11	9	7	9	6	9	6	10	8	9	9	10
Niger Tornadoes	14	7	11	6	12	6	10	6	10	10	13	10	13	9	12	10	16	14	13	13	11	12	13	15	11	13	14	15	12	14	12	13	11	13	12	13	11	11
Plateau United	1	3	1	10	10	12	8	11	13	15	12	15	12	13	14	16	14	16	16	17	17	17	18	18	16	16	16	16	13	11	11	11	12	11	13	11	12	12
Abia Warriors	8	9	6	8	9	8	13	13	9	8	4	3	2	2	2	3	2	3	9	7	9	10	7	8	13	14	12	12	15	15	16	17	17	17	17	14	15	13
Akwa United	8	12	15	11	15	10	4	7	7	6	3	6	10	11	9	7	7	7	7	10	10	9	6	7	7	7	8	10	10	8	10	8	10	9	11	12	13	14
Shooting Stars	17	18	10	13	11	13	9	12	16	12	16	12	16	17	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	16	16	17	17	17	17	14	16	15	15	14	14	14	15	14	15
MFM	1	1	5	2	3	1	2	2	3	4	7	4	7	6	8	8	11	12	10	9	7	8	10	12	9	10	9	11	11	13	14	14	15	16	15	16	17	16
Warri Wolves	12	10	13	16	6	9	14	14	14	16	15	11	9	10	13	11	9	9	12	14	13	14	12	13	15	15	15	14	17	17	17	18	18	15	16	17	18	17
Heartland	12	10	14	17	14	15	15	15	12	13	10	14	11	12	10	14	12	15	14	16	16	16	17	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	16	16	18	18	18	16	18
Ikorodu United	8	12	7	12	13	16	17	18	19	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19
Giwa	17	20	20	15	17	14	11	9	15	11	14	16	18	19	19	19	19	19	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

	Leader
	2017 CAF Champions League or 2017 CAF Confederation Cup
	Relegation to Nigeria National League

Updated to match(es) played on 2 October 2016. Source: Soccerway