The Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) has taken a major step towards expanding the reach of Nigerian domestic football after entering into a digital broadcasting partnership with Murphy Ben International (MBI), Trybal News reports.
The agreement will see selected NPFL matches streamed live on the league’s official YouTube channel, providing supporters at home and abroad with easier access to the competition.
NPFL Chairman Gbenga Elegbeleye described the partnership as a significant development in the league’s efforts to make its matches more accessible.
For years, our followers have been asking: ‘Where can we watch the NPFL?’” Elegbeleye said.
There will be no more excuses of ‘I didn’t see the match.”
Under the new arrangement, selected matches will be broadcast live in HD and made available free of charge, while delayed coverage of multiple fixtures will also be accessible on matchdays.
The partnership is expected to give fans more ways to follow the league, with matches available across mobile phones, television sets, laptops and other internet-enabled devices.
However, the NPFL believes the deal goes beyond simply putting matches on YouTube.
Elegbeleye said the league is looking to build a stronger digital and commercial ecosystem around the competition, with increased exposure for clubs and players as well as new opportunities for sponsorship, storytelling and fan engagement.
The partnership followed several weeks of discussions between the NPFL and MBI, including meetings in Abuja and a visit by NPFL officials to MBI’s headquarters in Lagos.
Elegbeleye said the league deliberately sought a partner whose technical and digital capabilities matched its ambition to modernise and internationalise the NPFL.
He pointed to the global reach achieved by Nigerian music and Nollywood as examples of what can happen when locally produced content is effectively distributed through digital platforms.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, MBI Chairman Murphy Anawana said the company was committed to using its digital reach and production capabilities to showcase Nigerian football to a much wider audience.
This partnership will focus on digital broadcasting, storytelling, promotion, fan engagement and commercial partnerships,” Anawana said.
He added that the project would provide an opportunity to tell “the stories of the NPFL, its clubs, players, coaches and supporters to a much larger audience and let the world know what NPFL has been doing.”
The move comes as the NPFL continues its push to improve the commercial value and international profile of Nigeria’s top-flight competition.
For years, the league has produced players who have gone on to establish themselves in Europe and other major football markets, while its clubs have also enjoyed success in continental competitions. Yet consistent access to domestic matches has remained a major challenge.
The new digital platform could help bridge that gap by placing the NPFL directly in front of a potentially global audience without relying exclusively on traditional television distribution.
More importantly, regular digital exposure could create a larger audience for clubs, players and sponsors while giving the league an opportunity to develop a stronger identity beyond the match itself.
For the NPFL, the partnership with MBI represents an attempt to turn accessibility into visibility and visibility into commercial growth.
The challenge now is to ensure that the cameras keep rolling and that the quality of the product matches the ambition of taking Nigerian domestic football to the world.
