Enyimba have said they will honor their 2017/2018 NPFL fixtures even without their five players listed for the Championship for African Nations (CHAN), which kicks off in Morocco this weekend.
Goalkeepers Ikechukwu Ezenwa and Theophilus Afelokhai as well as Ikouwem Udoh, Ibrahim Mustapha and Austine Oladapo are the Enyimba on the CHAN final squad.
“We will play our league games without the players at CHAN that is the decision of the club’s management”, a top official told scorenigeria.com.ng
“Of course, we have a good reason to ask for a shift in our fixtures, but we considered other factors like possible fixture congestion as well as our continental matches too”.
With five of their players in the CHAN Eagles who departed for Morocco late Monday night, Enyimba, going by long standing NFF rule, have the right to ask for a stay of their league games.
But the two-time African champions decided to toe the patriotic path by deciding to make do with the players now available for Coach Paul Aigbogun’s selection.
Enyimba will be guests of Lobi Stars on the opening day of the 2017/2018 domestic top flight with the People’s Elephant billed to leave their Calabar transit home base on Friday for Makurdi.