The President of Nigeria Volleyball Federation, Musa Nimrod, on Thursday in Abuja said clubs invited for the federation’s Premier League must honour their matches in order to avoid sanctions.
Nimrod said this was necessary as the country’s clubs must first participate in the Premier League before they could be allowed to feature in the Africa Cup of Nations.
The NVBF has invited eight clubs each for the federation’s Premier League in both the female and male categories.
Nimrod said: “Any club that will not come for the final eight competition will be sanctioned.
“It will pay a fine of N200,000 and will not feature in the competition next season.
“We want all the qualified clubs to honour their matches as the best three sides would be picked to represent the country in the Africa Cup of Nations.
He added that the overall best club would be declared overall winners and receive a prize.
On the decision to move the competition to Abuja, Nimrod restated the fact that the crisis in Kaduna was an impediment to the event.
He said: “We decided to move the competition from Kaduna to Abuja because of the current crisis in Kaduna and we want our players to be with settled minds whenever they are playing their games.
“Even though we have the problem of the Islamic Movement in Abuja, but the city is still peaceful.
“We want a situation where our players will concentrate on their games.”
Nimrod also looked back at the past months and said the federation has achieved a lot in the ongoing season.
He said: “We did the league in the six geo-political zones, we came to the round of 16, which was in the Atlantic and Savannah grouping, and now we have the final eight tournament.
“We also hosted the under-21 African volleyball championship without any sponsor.
“This is a great achievement.”
The final eight competition was earlier scheduled to hold in Kaduna from November 1 to 10.
But it has now been moved to Abuja and will hold from November 3 to 10.
