2019 Nigeria Professional Football League

The 2019 Nigeria Professional Football League was the 29th season of the Nigeria Professional Football League, the top-tier football league in Nigeria, since the rebranding of the league as the "Professional League", and the 48th season of top-division football in Nigeria since its establishment in 1972. The season started on 13 January 2019.^[3]

Nigeria Professional Football League

Season	2019
Champions	Enyimba
Promoted	Remo Stars Bendel Insurance Delta Force[1] Yobe Desert Stars
Relegated	None
Champions League	Enyimba Kano Pillars
Confederation Cup	Enugu Rangers Niger Tornadoes
Top goalscorer	Mfon Udoh & Sunusi Ibrahim (10 goals)[2]
← 2018 2019–20 →

Teams

The league consisted of 24 teams. Four were promoted from the Nigeria National League. Twenty teams remain from the previous season which was not completed. They are divided into two groups of 12 teams. The draw was held on 20 November 2018.^{[4] [5]}

Group A Wikki Tourists Rivers United Enugu Rangers Niger Tornadoes Lobi Stars Katsina United Kwara United Sunshine Stars Enyimba MFM Remo Stars Bendel Insurance

Group B Yobe Desert Stars Go Round Nasarawa United Abia Warriors Plateau United FC Ifeanyi Ubah Kano Pillars Heartland Akwa United El Kanemi Warriors Delta Force F.C.[6] Gombe United

Blue= Group A. Red= Group B

Kano

Rivers

Go Round

Sunshine

Enugu

Gombe United

Enyimba

Heartland

Tornadoes

Kwara United

Yobe

Akwa

Wikki

Lobi

MFM

Remo Stars

Insurance

Delta Force

Nasarawa

El Kanemi

Ifeanyi

Plateau

Abia

Katsina United

Locations of the Nigeria Professional Football League 2019 teams

First stage

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Rangers International (Q)	22	12	4	6	23	18	+5	40	Qualification for Championship playoff
2	Lobi Stars (Q)	22	8	11	3	22	18	+4	35
3	Enyimba (Q)	22	8	9	5	22	13	+9	33
4	MFM	22	9	5	8	22	20	+2	32
5	Rivers United	22	8	7	7	18	17	+1	31
6	Katsina United	22	9	3	10	24	25	−1	30
7	Wikki Tourists	22	9	3	10	22	24	−2	30
8	Sunshine Stars	22	8	5	9	23	22	+1	29
9	Bendel Insurance (R)	22	6	10	6	13	13	0	28	Relegation
10	Kwara United (R)	22	7	6	9	15	20	−5	27
11	Niger Tornadoes (Q, R)	22	4	9	9	14	21	−7	21	Qualification for Confederation Cup and relegation[a]
12	Remo Stars (R)	22	4	8	10	17	24	−7	20	Relegation

Source: NPFL
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Niger Tornadoes are Nigeria Federation Cup runners-up (Kano Pillars are cup winners).

Notes:

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Akwa United (Q)	22	11	5	6	32	24	+8	38	Qualification for Championship playoff
2	Kano Pillars (Q)	22	11	4	7	28	19	+9	37
3	Ifeanyi Ubah (Q)	22	11	3	8	18	18	0	36
4	Nasarawa United	22	10	3	9	30	28	+2	33
5	Abia Warriors	22	9	4	9	25	20	+5	31
6	Heartland	22	9	4	9	25	22	+3	31
7	Delta Force[a]	22	9	4	9	19	26	−7	31
8	Plateau United	22	7	9	6	18	14	+4	30
9	Gombe United (R)	22	8	6	8	19	19	0	30	Relegation
10	El-Kanemi Warriors (R)	22	9	3	10	21	25	−4	30
11	Go Round (R)	22	7	6	9	16	23	−7	27
12	Yobe Desert Stars (R)	22	4	3	15	11	24	−13	15

Source: NPFL
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Kada City played the first 11 matches of the season, and then sold their league spot to Delta Force, which took over their record and remaining fixtures.^[7]

Championship playoff

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	A	Enyimba (C)	5	4	0	1	10	4	+6	12	Qualification for Champions League
2	B	Kano Pillars (Q)	5	3	2	0	8	4	+4	11
3	A	Rangers International (Q)	5	2	2	1	10	8	+2	8	Qualification for Confederation Cup
4	B	Akwa United	5	1	3	1	7	9	−2	6
5	A	Lobi Stars	5	1	1	3	5	7	−2	4
6	B	Ifeanyi Ubah	5	0	0	5	6	14	−8	0

Source: NPFL
(C) Champions; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated